Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Dragons of Theria
by wolf expert
Summary: Shortly after returning to her own world, Aamira realized that she had made a terrible mistake. With betrayals, a dying family, and enemies lurking in every shadow, things have gotten even more difficult. Whether for better or for worse, the time is fast approaching for the dragons of the ancient legends to reawaken.
1. Chapter 1 The Monster Houndoom

Daisy waited in the cover of the shadows and dense underbrush of the deepest part of the Sylvan forest. It was a good place for hiding, and this was her own special spot. Her brother didn't know it, but she had found his secret area early on in life and had been coming to spy on him ever since.

Every day at noon, Quill would slip away from everyone else and come to this spot deep in the forest. Daisy would watch from her hiding place as he stood next to the seedling that she could only guess he himself had planted there. He would sit there staring at it for the longest time before taking out his piccolo and playing a song that was said to be the song of the forest guardian.

Daisy didn't see what was so special about his piccolo. The ocarina made from a conch shell in the museum was much more interesting, but whenever she asked her big brother about it he would simply say that it wasn't his to play. She couldn't figure out what he meant by that. His team had recovered both the piccolo and the ocarina and donated both to the museum. If he was allowed to play the piccolo whenever he wanted, he should be allowed to play the ocarina too.

She watched as he reached into his bag, no doubt to pull out his piccolo, but instead he took out what looked like a bunch of fruit tied into a cloth. He set it on the ground and untied it at the top so that the cloth spread out on the ground like a picnic blanket with the small pile of food in the center.

"Well?" Quill said. "Are you going to come eat lunch with me, Daisy? You must get hungry hiding in those bushes all the time."

Daisy flinched. She couldn't see how Quill could do stuff like that, even though he was the leader of the famous Team Sleuth. It seemed unnatural, but maybe that was why she respected him so much. She crawled out of her hiding place and sat on the ground next to the fruit opposite her brother.

"So you knew?" She asked.

Quill nodded. "From day one. I bet you're wondering why I come out here every day to play a song for the sapling."

"Sort of…" Daisy picked up a Pecha berry and bit into it. It was a little sweeter than she would have preferred, but she didn't really care about the taste.

Quill looked up at the sapling, which was already about three times his height, though nothing compared to the size of the other trees in Sylva. He had a strange look in his eyes that Daisy loved. It was the sort of look that seemed both happy and sad at the same time where his eyes would look sad and he would still be smiling honestly. She had always assumed that this look was what really defined her brother. It seemed to make him even stronger than he already was.

"Maybe I'll tell you one of these days." He said. "The whole story, I mean. For now I can tell you this much; a good friend of mine had to go away one day. At that time Team Sleuth was in a lot of trouble for something we didn't do. Going back to Sylva was something that was out of the question for a long time after she left. When we cleared our names, I wanted to make sure that when she came back, we all had a proper place to stay. We had our own Treehouse once; that's why I decided to grow another one. This is the tree that I'm growing for that friend."

"You're making a Treehouse?" Daisy asked. "I thought only Kricketune could do that. Is it because of the piccolo?"

Quill turned away from the tree to look at his little sister. She looked a lot like he did when he was younger, of course, since he had once been a Cyndaquil himself before he evolved. She was a lot smarter and braver than he could have hoped to be back then. "So how's school going?"

"You're avoiding my question again!" Daisy snapped at him. "I hate when you do that! You always do that right before you go off on some dangerous mission and I don't see you for days or even weeks!"

"Do I?" Quill asked awkwardly. Daisy could see right through him. She could from the moment she hatched. "Well it's true we will be leaving again soon. But that's not for another couple of days yet. But really, how is school?"

"It's fine…" Daisy said irritably. "I don't see why I have to go. The practical stuff is more useful than things you read out of books, isn't it?"

"You'd be surprised what you can learn from a book. It's true I never got the best grades when I was in school, but the things Espeon has taught me have helped me out more times than I can count!"

There it was again. Daisy had noticed Quill do that whenever he mentioned their mom, but never asked about it before. "Why do you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You call Mom by her name. Why is that? I'm allowed to call her Mom at school. Why can't you even if you're in some famous Investigation Team?"

"Force of habit, I guess…" Quill ignored Daisy's puzzled expression and bit into an apple. "It's not like I'm not allowed or that I think I'm too old for it, I just don't do it. So have you decided what your team's name is going to be yet?"

At this Daisy's eyes lit up. They might have been complete opposites when it came to school, that is, Quill got bad grades because of his nervousness and she got bad grades because of her overconfidence, but when it came to Investigation Teams, it was suddenly easy to see that they were related.

"I'm thinking about maybe Team Pyro! You know, I've already got sketches made for my team base when I graduate. I've decided I'm going to have mine right next to the Investigator's Brigade building, that way we can always see each other and go on missions together! And I've already decided that my very first mission will be an outlaw mission, just like yours!"

Quill laughed. "And what will your teammates do? Have you already designed their rooms for them in your HQ? And how will you compromise if one of them wants to go on a rescue mission first?"

Daisy tilted her head. "Team members? I almost forgot about that."

"You mean you'll be graduating in a couple of years and you haven't found anyone to form a team with yet?" Quill asked.

Daisy shook her head. "No… I guess not. Maybe I could just form my own team and work by myself until someone else asks to join like you did."

"That's not entirely how it happened." Quill admitted. "It's true I didn't have a teammate in mind until the very last minute, but I never worked alone."

Again Quill got that strange look. Daisy began to wonder who this partner of his was. It was apparently the same person who he had planted the seedling for. She was able to figure that much out at least.

"So about that mission." Quill said, snapping Daisy out of her thoughts. "There's a reason this one's going to be so big." He leaned down closer so he could whisper it in Daisy's ear, which he knew would just get her more excited. "I already asked Espeon and she says it's okay. If you want, you'll be coming with us."

Daisy's smile broadened as what her brother was saying slowly started to sink in. "I'm going on a mission with Team Sleuth! Really?"

Quill nodded. "Really. We'll be leaving in two days. I want you to go to Kangaskhan's storage and take whatever items you feel you'll need from our account. There are plenty of items there, so you shouldn't have to stop at the shop for anything."

"I can pick whatever I want? Even one of those awesome Pecha Scarves?" Pecha scarves were one of Daisy's favorite items and they had really grown in popularity among the academy students lately.

"If that's what you want. You can use any hold items you want. Oh, hold on. I've got an even better idea." Quill dug around in his bag and pulled out a red bow tie with white polka dots all over it. "I don't use this as much anymore, but I have a feeling it would help you out a lot. This was the item I got when I first formed Team Sleuth. It's called a Joy Ribbon."

"I've heard about those. They raise your level faster, right? You'll really let me borrow it?"

"What? Are you insane! I'm not going to let you borrow my precious Joy Ribbon!" Daisy looked at him in shock for a moment before he continued. "I'm giving it to you. To keep. It's all yours, kiddo!"

Daisy nearly shouted from excitement as she took the Joy Ribbon from her brother and attached it to her neck the way Quill used to when he was younger. Daisy had seen a few paintings Smeargle had painted of Quill from back then and she had always liked the bow he wore, even if she didn't know what it was until then. She had heard of Joy Ribbons before, but she never saw what they looked like.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Like me…" Quill admitted. "I'll admit it looks better on you. Since I'm a Quilava now and I mainly walk on all four paws, it looked a little silly. It seems too easy to level up with it now anyway. I prefer to have a little bit of a challenge at least."

"You're amazing!" Daisy said. "Too strong to even hold the Joy Ribbon anymore. Aren't you going to have some sort of hold item though?"

"I'm thinking about using a Defense Scarf from now on. It should help during our mission if you get into trouble and I need to help you out. This won't be an easy mission for an academy student, you know."

Daisy nodded. "I got it. I think I'll go get ready right away!"

"The mission is two days from now. You don't have to rush so much."

Daisy got up and turned towards the direction she had come from. "I know, but now I'm so excited I don't think I'll even be able to sleep! I need to prepare right away!"

Quill smiled as he watched his sister run off. He ate a few more berries and packed up the rest of the fruit for later. He took out his piccolo and played the song for the sapling for a while before packing everything up and heading home.

Quill's Treehouse had been destroyed nearly five years ago, but when his team announced they'd be returning to Sylva for the time being, Smeargle and the construction team went to work right away to make them a new HQ in the Investigator's Brigade building. The floor map was basically the same as it had been in their old Treehouse, which made it much bigger than any of the other rooms in the building. A building where you had to live with several other Investigation Teams didn't feel much like a proper base though, no matter how much bigger their rooms were than most others.

In the main room, the bulletin board was filled more than ever before with dozens of job requests. Aside from Team Jurassic, theirs was the only with the Master rank, so it was to be expected. Quill looked again at the mission that he had picked for Daisy to join them on.

It was a simple mission; an escort through Dark Rift. Quill hadn't gone back there since he and Aamira had been led there by Mismagius. That had led to one of the worst times in his life when he was locked up in her castle for about a week, only to be rescued and imprisoned again just days later. It shouldn't be much trouble now though; only someone who was an Aura or Dark Reader and had been to Atra before could open the way into Atra. The client was also one who Quill had worked for before. He was scared of everything, though still pretty strong. As long as Daisy could keep up, the mission should be smooth sailing.

"Thinking about the mission again?" Lairon was curled up in his stone bed in the corner of the room. Since the floor map was similar to that of their Treehouse, the bedrooms were all in an upstairs level. Lairon, being a bad climber, had to stay in the main room since he couldn't climb the ladder to their dorms. They were planning on making him a bedroom on the main floor, but he insisted in staying in the main room. He enjoyed the big window and Delibird hardly ever missed them with Lairon there to take their messages for them.

Lairon went on quite a few missions himself, but he had recently suffered a bad injury from their last major mission and had only recently healed up enough to go on more missions. In two days, he would be accompanying Quill, Daisy, and their client, Dustox, on the mission. Their team would be crowded, but hopefully the mission would be well worth it.

"Yea…" Quill placed the job request back on the bulletin board. "I'm a little worried. Do you think Daisy's ready for this?"

"She'll be fine." Lairon reassured him. "Honestly, the way you obsess over her at times, people would think you're her father instead of her older brother."

Quill laughed. "I guess you're right. It's probably because of Aamira. You know, she loved little kids. Especially if she got a role in helping them grow up. Field day at the academy, hatching Latias and Manaphy… I think I can start to understand why she loved it so much."

"You sure that's it?" Lairon asked. "If you haven't noticed, Daisy acts a lot like her. Always rushing into dangerous situations, really smart, that temper…"

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Quill said sarcastically.

Out of the window, he could see that the sun had already started to set. As hasty as Daisy was, Quill had to admit that he should start prepping for their mission too. He only had tomorrow to get all of his stuff together.

"I won't keep you up." Lairon said. "You've been staying up so late for the past few weeks now. You should really try to get some rest."

Quill nodded and headed up the ladder to his room. Just like their old Treehouse, his bed was lined with metal and filled with coals. It was really warm whenever he burned them, which felt especially nice on a mid-spring night. And yet, even the coals couldn't help him sleep.

It had started much longer ago than Lairon realized; nearly half a year now. At first it was easy to keep going with a few restless nights here and there, but he soon realized that the nightmares had started to get worse and more frequent. Now they were happening nightly. He stared over at the table on the far side of the wall where Darkrai's Nightmare Gem was glowing eerily in the dark. What if something really was wrong? But then Aamira had been gone for nearly two years now. Why would she suddenly be in danger? And even if she was, there's no way what he was dreaming could have gone on for so long.

That night was just like any other. It started in a forest much like Sylva. In the distance through the fog, it was just barely possible to make out the towers of a looming castle. A human girl sat by a lake much like Vine City's own Lake Harmony, with the bottoms of her bare feet just barely touching the water's surface. Rocks were piled high around the edges and the sides of the lake were lined with orchids. The rest of the clearing looked like it had been purposefully planted a certain way, as if it was some sort of garden hidden in a secret grove. In the center of the lake was a huge tree with roots spread wide and high above water level. There was something glowing inside of it, but it was impossible to make out at this distance.

The sound of barking came from somewhere behind where the human sat. She would turn to the sound for barely a second, the only time Quill could ever see the red eyes that were so distinguishing for Aamira. Until he first saw her eyes, Quill had doubted, but after he had seen them he had no doubt that this human really was Aamira. It was true that many pokemon had red eyes, him included, but it wasn't the same with Aamira's. Aside from that, Quill didn't know how common red eyes were for humans.

Aamira would turn back to the lake and stare at the light reflecting off of the waves on the surface of the lake before getting up and running. The sound of her pursuers was louder by now. She ran confidently as if she was leading the chase, but Quill could also feel a dull fear that was urging her onward through the forest.

After running for a long time, a Fearow would appear out of nowhere and try to grab her. It miscalculated Aamira's speed and only managed to scratch up her back, though the wounds didn't look very good either way. She would continue running as the pokemon closed in on her.

She stopped at the edge of a cliff that led even further into the forest below. She would give a nervous glance to the strange looking mountain in the distance that was cut down the middle to create a V shape. After that she would bring her attention back to the pack of pokemon that had cornered her. Among them, a large canine that Quill didn't recognize would step forward.

"Hello Stoutland." Aamira would say in a voice that sounded like she was far from intimidated. "Come here on another one of your master's errands, I presume?"

"Your master as well as my own." The pokemon called Stoutland would growl. The strange thing is, he would really growl. Even though he didn't speak in words as Quill was used to, he could understand what it was saying perfectly. He assumed that Aamira could also. "I advise you to end your struggle now. Keep running and we will follow to the edges of Theria, such is the way of the Alphas."

"How sad." Aamira would say. "Chase and bark, as if you're good for nothing else."

Stoutland growled and bared his teeth. "The key. That's all he wants. Give Master the key and he may be somewhat lenient on your punishment for running away."

"As if that were true. I think I've got enough scars by now to prove that mercy isn't a part of his vocabulary."

"Then why do you continue to defy him? He is the king of your kind. You are the only human who would dare act this way!"

"I'm not sure, really." Aamira said. "Though I am sure of one thing; your mission is to capture me and bring be back home. To win, I don't need to defeat you, I just have to keep you from catching me."

"You've run out of ground to run on." Stoutland insisted. "Surrender now before you make things any worse for you than they already are."

"I shouldn't die." She said. "That's another thing I'm sure of too. I'm not sure why I'm sure, but I am. But still, if this key is so important to you, then as soon as I die, you'll have no way of finding it, correct?"

Stoutland's eyes widened. He realized at the last second what she was planning on doing. He charged forward, but Aamira had already stepped over the edge of the cliff. The bird pokemon circling above dove towards her in an attempt to catch her, but they were suddenly knocked away by a powerful blast of fire that had come seemingly from nowhere. Just as it looked like she was about to hit the ground, she whistled loudly and a Staraptor appeared out of the forest, catching her on its back and flying off.

More bird pokemon started to gather and followed after them. Stoutland, with some difficulty, managed to shake off the shock from the trick she had played and rallied the rest of his Alphas to continue the pursuit. The feeling of fear from being pursued slowly intensified until Quill bolted upright in his bed, shaking from the nightmare just as he had on any other night.

Had Aamira been able to escape those pokemon, or had she been captured? Maybe she was still on the run. But then, why was she running at all? From what Quill could tell, this had something to do with the king of her world, but aside from wanting a key, their conversation had been too vague for Quill to really be able to tell what he was after.

Quill stretched and got up. He looked out his window and frowned. It was drizzling lightly, making it somewhat overcast. The forest smelled great when it rained, but moist air always made him drowsy. He had hoped to get in a small mission that morning, but he probably wouldn't be able to move as fast as he normally did. He would have to spend the day making preparations for their mission the next day.

There were only a few people outside when he left Team Sleuth HQ. Most of them were shop owners or Investigation Team Members like himself. The majority of the city was made of plant and bug type pokemon. A lot of bug types generally had soft skin or dusted wings that made rain water problematic for them. Most grass types preferred sunny weather as well, so quite a few of the town's residents had stayed in late this morning.

Quill caught a glimpse of Daisy sitting on the swing outside of the school on his way to the main part of the town. She was surrounded by so many friends. Quill remembered how he had used to sit on that swing himself when he went to school there, though he was never surrounded by friends like this.

Out of the crowd he recognized one of the kids as Mudkip. Quill got the feeling that Daisy liked him a lot more than she normally let on. As far as the other students went, Mudkip was the only one that Quill ever heard of Daisy bullying. He didn't seem to mind though, strangely enough. She even referred to him as Old Snuffles because he always had a runny nose. It seemed strange, but maybe that was just the sort of friends they were.

Quill headed into town and stocked up on a few more items that he bought from the shop, items that their team had started to run low on, mostly, and then he took a few items out of storage for their mission the next day.

On his way back he was lucky enough to get a job request to help move some furniture outside of the new café that had opened up near the school. It was outdoor furniture mainly, but there was a lot of work to be done on the inside too. He really liked the balcony that was in the upper level of the Treehouse café. The floor was made from thin wooden planks supported by branches. The branches curved upwards to form something like bars that were spaced apart far enough to see out of, but not enough so that someone could fall off of the balcony.

While he was finishing up, he overheard a Luxio telling a Vigoroth something that really caught his attention.

"That's right!" She said. "A whole pack of them just swarmed in out of nowhere!"

"That really sounds troublesome…" Vigoroth replied. "Team Night has a Houndoom member, don't they? Have they gone to check it out?"

"They have, but Weavile and Gliscor got beat up pretty badly by that monster Houndoom leading the pack. Their own Houndoom was nowhere to be seen when they were finally rescued."

This caught Quill's curiosity immediately. "Excuse me. What was that about a pack of Houndoom?"

"Oh it's terrible!" Vigoroth's voice was shaking so bad that Quill had trouble understanding her at first. "Apparently a huge pack of Houndoom showed up in the western part of the forest this morning. Their leader is some sort of huge monster of a Houndoom. He's apparently twice the size of a normal Houndoom and has the biggest horns that anyone has ever seen on one. No one knows where they came from, which just makes it more worrying. Apparently this Houndoom led his pack through Miracle City a while ago. They attacked anyone who got in their path and burned anything else."

"Luckily since Miracle is one of the few cities constructed mainly of stone in the forest, nothing was too badly burned." Luxio added. "There's still quite a bit of damage that was done to the wooden structures, but at the very least the city's still standing."

"Why haven't I heard anything about it?" Quill asked.

"It's pretty recent news, so it's not surprising you haven't heard it. I came here visiting from Tempestas and was asked by Pikachu to deliver a message to Noctowl on my way here. He was meeting with the Investigation Teams of Vine City for their morning briefing when a Delibird from Miracle City came rushing in with the news. Immediately a few of the teams were dispatched to search for them. I stayed around for a while to see what would happen and soon one of the teams came back with bad injuries. According to them, the pack was going to set up camp at Stony Ridge for some protection against the rain and Noctowl sent a message to Team Night to get their Houndoom to act as an ambassador of sorts. I delivered Pikachu's message after that and talked about it with Noctowl for a while and when I was about to leave another team showed up with two of the members of Team Night being carried on their backs. After that I hurried here to find my friend Vigoroth who I had heard was working as part of the design and construction team assigned with putting together the interior of the café."

"And then you showed up." Vigoroth said. "I haven't heard anything else about this, though the Delibird do seem to be in a hurry to deliver some important message. It most likely has something to do with Houndoom. Unfortunately, that probably means that no one else has been found yet to hunt them down. You're the leader of Team Sleuth though, aren't you? Do you think you might be able to do something about this?"

"Well I have to, don't I?" Quill said. He realized that it would most likely mean calling off tomorrow's mission though. Daisy was going to be disappointed. "You said Stony Ridge, right? That's not a very difficult dungeon at least."

Back at the academy, Daisy and the rest of the kids were enjoying their recess. Daisy was playing tag with her friends and purposely only chasing after Mudkip. Just as she was about to catch him, she noticed her brother walking towards them looking grave. She stopped and ran towards him.

"Hey, is something wrong Quill?" she asked.

"Yea…" he didn't dare look Daisy in the eyes. Lairon was right when he said that her temper could be every bit as bad as Aamira's was. "Something really major just came up. There's a really bad outlaw not far from here with a whole gang of bandits. Odds are this is going to be a tricky mission, so I'm not entirely sure if we'll be able to go on our mission tomorrow."

"What!" Daisy said. "Well… Okay, I guess… I guess I understand why you have to do it. Just make sure to hit the bad guys once for me, okay?"

Quill smiled and nodded. "You got it, kiddo. I'll try to be home for dinner tonight, but I can't make any promises. These guys apparently just appeared out of nowhere and have already attacked a whole city. There's no way of telling how strong they are."

"But no one's stronger than you, right Quill?" Daisy said. "I know you can beat them!"

"Yea, you're right." He tried to sound more confident than he really felt. Normal Houndoom were one thing, but this monster Houndoom sounded like trouble. "It's too bad the rest of the team already left on their missions for today. I could probably use their help on this one. At the very least, it would let me get home sooner."

"You can do it." Daisy said. "I know you can because you're the best Investigator ever!"

"Yea, it'll be a piece of cake for this Quilava! Alright, tell Espeon not to wait on me if I don't come home on time for dinner. I asked a Delibird to deliver the roasted berry pie I made for desert if I don't come back on time."

"Roasted berry pie!" Daisy shouted excitedly. It had always been her favorite desert and she always loved it when Quill made it.

"But only if you eat your vegetables first."

"I know that. I really like vegetables." Espeon called for them to come back inside. She noticed Quill standing there and no doubt understood that something had happened. "I'll see you later!" Daisy ran towards their mom and started to tell her about the mission Quill was going on.

Quill headed back to Kangaskhan's storage to make some adjustments to his inventory. By now word of the Houndoom pack had spread throughout the city and everyone had already expected that Quill would be the one to go deal with them. Noctowl had tried to get some information from the others who had seen the pack, but apparently the pack's leader knew moves that they had never even seen before and all of the Houndoom were so fast that they couldn't even get a good guess as to how many there were.

Quill was about to head out when Noctowl stopped him. "There was one thing that they could all remember about this Houndoom. Apparently it had an attack that could turn their attacks against them. Sound familiar?"

Quill nodded. "Sounds like Quickpaw, the technique that Aamira had learned from Wynaut."

"Be careful." This coming from Noctowl was even more unnerving. He had known Quill since before he formed Team Sleuth with Aamira and Quill couldn't even remember the last time that Sylva's elder had told him to be careful.

As it turns out, being told to be careful was good advice. Though the dungeon had seemed the same as ever at first glance, Quill started to realize that the pokemon in the area had become more violent than normal. Though still not much stronger than they normally were, Quill still had to stay on his toes to deal with their sudden attacks.

Wandering through the dungeon took up more time than he would have liked. By the time he got to the top of Stony Ridge, the sun had already almost entirely disappeared. It looked like he wasn't about to make it back in time for dinner after all. What a shame too. He had to cancel dinner with Daisy and Espeon the previous week also. This week was even worse since Typhlosion was visiting. Either way, he had a job to do. He knew his family would understand.

Quill turned the corner to the area where he and Aamira had gone on their very first mission to defeat Charmeleon. He nearly jumped in surprise at their numbers. There had to be at least a dozen Houndoom, four or so Houndour, and sleeping in the center of them was the monster Houndoom everyone had been talking about.

He had expected the Houndoom's size to be exaggerated, but seeing it up close, Quill could tell that this wasn't the case. This Houndoom was eight or nine feet tall easy. The horns on its head twisted in a complete circle with the tips pointing forward near its muzzle. The horns and the bones all over its body were a sickly yellow color, which led Quill to believe it must have been fairly old. Around its neck was a pendant with a dark red crystal on it. The tips of its fangs were just visible beneath its upper lip. The claws looked like daggers and could easily put Weavile's claws to shame. Judging by the claw marks on all of the rocks nearby, Quill had to guess that it had been sharpening its claws recently to get ready for a battle.

"Uh… excuse me…" Quill said timidly as he came out of his hiding spot. A few of the Houndoom looked up at him, though they didn't seem to be too worried about him being there. They had obviously been in the middle of a nap and weren't in the mood for fighting right now. "Excuse me, but can I talk with you? I heard that your pack destroyed a good amount of a nearby city and injured a lot of people. Was there any sort of reason for it?"

"A fairly good reason." The giant Houndoom said without even bothering to open its eyes. "We were looking for someone and they were getting in the way."

"Well you've really upset a lot of people by hurting them like that. I was wondering if maybe you could move along now and look somewhere else? The rain stopped, so you don't have any reason to stay here right?"

"Wrong." The Houndoom stretched and yawned and stood up straight facing Quill. "You see, my partner is looking for a particular someone who he says is located somewhere in this forest. As such, we shall not be leaving until we find this pokemon."

"And what do you want with this pokemon?" Quill asked.

"To take them back with us. And what an honor it shall be. It's not every day that my partner would grant an audience to such a pokemon."

Quill didn't know exactly what this guy was up to, but it didn't sound like it was something good. Still against so many of them, it was best to try the diplomatic approach before rushing into a battle.

"Is there any way I can convince you to leave?" Quill asked. "Surely finding this pokemon isn't worth your trouble."

Houndoom wagged his tail in a way that told Quill he was starting to get annoyed. "How right you are. I said the same thing nearly word for word. Such mediocre tasks are unfitting for my level of ability. However, it was a request made by my partner; I can't refuse something like that. Now if you really want to get me to leave sooner, you'll tell me where Vine City is. I hear the pokemon we're looking for is currently living there. How about it then?" Quill got down on all four and flared up the spots on his neck and back. Houndoom smiled as if amused by his sudden aggression. "You don't seriously mean to fight me. I get it. You must be a resident of Vine City. Well then, I'll just have to force the information out of you."

The other Houndoom all stood up and backed away from their leader as far as they could. No doubt they were used to seeing the destruction his attacks could cause.

Quill dug beneath the ground in an attempt to sneak up on him, but Houndoom wasn't having any of it. He dug out a small amount of the ground and exhaled a Smog into the earth. It seeped through the cracks in the loosely packed rocks, reaching Quill down in the tunnel he had burrowed. He coughed fiercely and struggled to get to the surface as quickly as possible. Once out of the ground, Quill pulled a Pecha berry out of his bag.

"Oh no you don't!" Houndoom swatted the berry out of his hand with a well aimed swipe of the tail that sent it flying into the forest below. "Eat all the berries you want after you tell me where this Vine City is."

"I'll never tell you…" Quill swayed a little from the poison, but managed to attack with Swift.

Houndoom's eyes widened as he unleashed his attack. The force of the dark energy he emanated made it seem like he radiated fear. Quill stood frozen in place from fear and watched as the attack stopped his own and threw it back at him with what must have been double the force. Quill was hit directly and nearly thrown over the edge of the cliff. He managed to keep a hold of the ground to keep from being thrown over the edge, but he was so badly hurt just from the one attack that he couldn't stand.

"Is that all?" Houndoom walked towards Quill slowly. "Don't be a hero; tell me where the city is or I'll throw you over the edge."

Quill refused to say a word. He was done talking with this guy. Houndoom walked towards him at the same slow pace until he was so close that if Quill could move he could have reached out and touched one of his claws.

Houndoom lifted a paw slowly, threatening to swipe Quill off of the edge of the cliff. He held it in the air for a moment in an attempt to intimidate Quill before swiping at him. A blue streak appeared at Houndoom's left and latched onto his paw. Houndoom swatted his paw in the opposite direction and knocked his attacker into the stone wall. The pokemon screamed as they hit the wall so hard that it left a huge dent and fell to the ground.

"Daisy!" Quill shouted. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I-I was worried…" She managed to say. "You seemed nervous about this mission, which is really weird for you, so I wanted to come help you."

"Oh how cute." Houndoom said. "Unfortunately for you, I never liked cute. How about this? You tell me where Vine City is or I'll knock this kid over the edge instead!"

"No!" Quill shouted. "Don't hurt her! She can't even control her fire fully yet! This battle is between us. If you knock anyone off the cliff, then let it be me!"

"You don't make the conditions here, I do. Now it's in your best interest to start cooperating!"

Quill tensed up. What was he supposed to do? He couldn't let Daisy get hurt, but he couldn't endanger anyone in the city either. Whoever it was that this Houndoom was looking for must have been really important.

Houndoom smirked and turned towards Daisy. Immediately his smile faded. "Huh, well it looks like I don't need your cooperation anyway. The person we were looking for has come to find us on their own."

"What?" Quill said. "You can't mean Daisy! What do you want with her?"

"I wouldn't know. My partner was fairly specific though. Look for the Cyndaquil that lives in the forest. By his information, there's only one in this forest. Now that we've found her, I'll leave as you asked."

Houndoom walked over to Daisy. At the last minute she tried to run, but he caught her easily and held her in his jaws tightly enough to keep her from slipping away, but not so much that it would hurt her. Daisy tried to flare up the fire on her back, but all that she could make were small sparks.

Houndoom's pendant started to glow a sinister red color and the ridge started to shake. In the side of the stone wall, a huge fissure opened. All of the smaller Houndoom ran inside of it and vanished. Houndoom waited for them to depart before walking into the fissure himself.

Quill finally managed to reach his bag and pulled out a Pecha berry. Eating it managed to give him back some of his strength that had faded from the poison. In front of him, the fissure started to close again. Quill ran towards it and jumped inside just as the fissure sealed shut.

For a moment he was falling through an empty blank expanse. It didn't last long, however. The next second he had hit the ground. Only instead of it being the bottom of some sort of ravine, he was suddenly in the middle of a forest clearing. How had he fallen into the side of the cliff and ended up back in the forest?

He looked up hoping to see the cliff above him, but it was nowhere to be seen and the trees were so tall here that he couldn't figure out what direction they were in. After a minute he realized that something wasn't right. The air felt warmer than it had been and the air smelled completely different. Judging by the smell, this wasn't Sylva at all. Wherever he was, he had never encountered air that smelled this way before.

Though it was dark, he was just barely able to make out his surroundings. He was in some sort of garden in the middle of the forest. Stepping stones wound through the garden so that people could navigate through it without stepping on the plants. At the far end was a large lake ringed by large stones. In the center of the lake was a tree with the roots split right above water level. Inside the tree, something started to glow faintly.

"You… Who are you?" a voice asked him inside his head. Quill had heard telepathic messages before, but it had been so long that the voice startled him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

The light emerged from the tree roots and floated around the boughs of the tree before hovering towards Quill and stopping right in front of him. At first it was too bright to make out the source of the light. Soon his eyes adjusted and he was able to make out the pokemon in the light.

It was a pokemon that he had never seen before. Its ears were V shaped and were orange, as were its hands. The rest of its body was a cream color with wings on its lower back. The pokemon had one fang that was larger than the other that stuck out under its upper lip like the Houndoom's fangs had done. Its dark blue eyes looked like they were almost the exact color of the night sky.

"Who are you?" Quill asked.

"Isn't that what I asked you? Yes sir, I think it is." The pokemon asked. It was hard to tell, but Quill assumed it was a male. "Well, it doesn't matter. Since you were able to find this place, I assume you're of a pure heart. Only the pure hearted can find their way to the Hidden Grove while I'm at full strength. And guess what? I am right now, yes sir. So again, who are you? I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours."

"My name's Quill." Quill said. "I came here following a giant Houndoom that kidnapped my sister."

"Giant Houndoom. Ooh he's no good. Best to stay away from him, yes sir. Well never mind that for now. You're looking pretty pitiful. Best you stay here and heal for a while. I take it you're not from around here."

"No, I don't think so…" Quill said. "Honestly, I'm not even sure I'm in the same world anymore."

"Ah, I see. Well, my name's Victini, yes sir. Let me be the first to welcome you to the country of Dellevis."


	2. Chapter 2 Morrigan's Mission

It had been the third night in a row that Lucario had been reading over the books in the library in Atra's castle. As far as he knew, Aamira knew close to nothing about the world she came from, so this somehow made him determined to learn all he could about her world. Many of the books in this library were ancient. All of the greatest secrets, including much of the history of humans, were hidden in a secret chamber that was only recently rediscovered. Most of the books that seemed to contain valuable information were lost long ago when Mismagius burned them, but she never discovered these.

The first Shade, who Aamira had been named for, had hidden secret passages all over the castle. These chambers were built with the sole purpose of keeping Mismagius from discovering the contents. One such secret room was in the foyer where the Aura Scepter had been hidden. Ever since he and Mismagius had been freed from it, it had been returned to this location in order to guard the new resident.

The library was, in Shade's opinion, one of the greatest treasures that Atra had to offer. All of that vast knowledge would have been completely wiped out if it hadn't been for her creating a secret room. He was grateful for it too. Of course, none of the information was up to date, but the way humans and pokemon lived together in that world made him believe that not much would have changed between them.

Apparently, every human had a pokemon partner that they would meet somehow sometime after they were born. Not every pokemon had a human partner though and the ones without human partners were referred to as wild pokemon. Between the two partners, there was always one male and one female and they were said to be closer than anyone could imagine. Evolution was linked to the human partner's emotional and mental maturity and could happen without items as long as the pokemon had a partner. Pokemon with human partners were normally much stronger than wild pokemon too.

Lucario thought that this was how Aamira and Quill had gotten to be. Was he a little jealous? Maybe. He did meet Aamira first, but they ended on a somewhat bitter note the last time they had met. A near crisis could have been avoided if he had just listened to her. Lucario had put Quill in danger too, which he knew Aamira would never forgive him for.

Would Quill be considered Aamira's partner though? They didn't come from the same world, so it was possible that Aamira already had a partner in her world. They must still be alive, that Lucario knew for sure, since if the pokemon partner died, the human would die too. It didn't entirely seem fair, since the pokemon could continue living if the human died. Although, he wasn't entirely sure how that would affect Aamira once she turned into a pokemon herself.

Unfortunately, the books turned out to be somewhat lacking after all. It only mentioned benefits given to the pokemon partner, though Lucario was sure that the humans must get something from it too.

He sighed and closed the book. This was his last night at the castle for a while and he was spending it reading. Maybe he and Aamira were more alike than he noticed before after all. In another day he would be in the small town of Lumina to stop a feud between two families over land separated by a bridge. As the ambassador, he was supposed to settle little disputes like this for the citizens of Atra, but it did get tiresome.

A familiar aura entered the room as if appearing out of nowhere. Knowing the one involved, it wasn't too strange.

Lucario sighed. "Hello, Hunter."

Hunter crossed his arms, much the way that Aamira usually did. He had visited several times before and each time he noticed something else that led him to believe that Aamira really had raised him in the future. "You wouldn't speak that way if you knew why I came here. How's the kid doing with his Aura Reader training?"

"He's doing great. Exceptional even. He's a prodigy that could far surpass Aamira, though I suppose that partially has to do with the teacher. Ruko has his way of surprising people. Never mind that though; I doubt that's the only reason you came here."

"And you're right." Hunter seemed somewhat reluctant to elaborate. "The way Mew has been keeping track of Aamira through her soul is through the energy of her world, since it would logically be similar to hers. As it turns out, her world has three distinct energies running through it and hers only matches closely to the area she was born in."

"So what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Well… We lost her."

"You what!" Lucario shouted.

"And this is why I didn't want to just come out and tell you!" Hunter shouted at him. "Listen, I went to Vine City and Quill had apparently left on some dangerous mission with his younger sister in pursuit of a pack of Houndoom. The strange thing is though, I wasn't able to track him down."

"You weren't able to?" Lucario asked. "The master tracker who could trace the aura of anyone as long as they're alive?"

"Or in the world I'm searching." He added. "Seeing as how the pokemon he was chasing were dark types, I thought he might come here. I've done some searching but haven't found any trace of him in this world either. Either one of you would do, though I had hoped to find him first seeing as how he wasn't the one who had started an argument with her that convinced her to go back to her own world in the first place."

"Thanks for reminding me. So what do you want me to do?"

"Well, Aamira picked a perfect time to go missing. It took longer than expected, but we've managed to repair her soul. I need you to take it to her world and give it back. Once you do, she will be transformed back into a pokemon as Mew had promised her. Hopefully it won't be too difficult, as the seal on her memory should have broken the instant it was fixed. This way, she'll recognize you when you go looking for her.

"Alright, I think I can do that much. No different than any other delivery." This much was true. Just find Aamira, deliver her soul, and be on his way. There wouldn't be any reason for him to linger. He doubted that she would want him to linger anyway.

"Not entirely true. There are some things you need to know about souls before you go carrying one around. First, don't release any of your own aura into it. It could make it unstable and cause it to shatter again. Second, don't put it in any containers. Jars, boxes, bags, anything of the sort. The only container meant for a soul is a living body, which is the only thing capable of containing its pure energy. Any other container will rupture the moment the soul is enclosed inside of it. Last, a soul can only be seen by a person holding it. This would make up for not being able to carry it in a bag, since no one else would be able to see it. Just don't go dropping it. I'm not entirely sure what would happen if you do."

Lucario understood close to nothing about souls, nor did he really care to. He couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like if his soul was destroyed.

"Alright, I think I've got it. Anything else?" Lucario asked.

"Not that I can think of. Hold out your paw."

Lucario did as Hunter told him and Hunter raised his seemingly empty paw up to his. Lucario felt it before it became visible. It looked almost exactly like the small fragment of it that he had seen before. It was a small, pearl-like object. The surface seemed to shift slowly and seemed almost two dimensional the way it reflected the light. Every now and then he would see a dark spec move across the surface. The energy it radiated was visible, making it difficult to believe that no one else would be able to see it.

Lucario let his arm fall to his side and tried to make it look natural. Souls, being made of pure energy, would be dangerous to be stolen by anyone. He didn't know who would know enough to guess it was there, but he wanted to hide it, especially since it was Aamira's.

Hunter nodded to assure him that he looked as natural as was probably possible. "Just try not to look at it around anyone and everything should be fine. The portal's open in the garden. Meet me out there when you're ready to leave."

Hunter stepped up onto the ledge of the window he had apparently climbed in through and jumped to the ground below. Lucario shuddered once he was finally gone. It was hard to believe that in the future of Hunter's timeline, Lucario had helped to raise him. Dark aura no longer disturbed him the way it used to, but Hunter still seemed as distant and creepy as ever.

Trying to push his thoughts of the bizarre visitor from his mind, Lucario grabbed his bag from the back of the chair where he had hung it and went up to his room to get some last minute items together. He had learned from Mismagius that taking items into another world where such items weren't commonly seen, if ever, could have disastrous consequences. The bag he took would have to be unmarked and generic-looking, and he could only take the most common of healing items, such as berries.

Even in this, there was a danger. Lucario remembered how puzzled he had been when Mismagius had been able to create new bars for the dungeon out of Quartz and various metals to make it impossible for a Lucario or Riolu to break free from. Quartz was a rare mineral in this world, though in Quill's it was one of the most common. It was possible that Oran berries didn't exist or were extremely rare in the world he would be going to. If that were true, then bandits might come after him in an attempt to steal them. Or they could be common items that no one would even glace towards if they saw them out of the corner of their eye.

Lucario wondered for a moment if he should take any money. Fortunately, the pokemon in Desolo, Atra, and the shadow world all used the same money. It might not be true for a world inhabited by humans. These coins could be completely useless, but he figured he might as well take a few of the gold ones, worth 100 poke and the silver ones, each worth ten. Just in case.

As Lucario was running down the corridors to the garden, he saw a flash of red from someone standing inside a doorway. He had grown accustomed to most of the pokemon living in the castle, but he couldn't think of anyone with so much red. The scent was slightly familiar too. Lucario remembered that when Aamira had come to Atra for the first time that there was another scent aside from her own, most likely being the scent of her world. This scent was the same.

He walked back towards the room he had passed by. Before entering he looked at the intruder's aura. It wasn't one he recognized, but there was some sort of power to it that seemed vaguely familiar. He realized that if this person, whoever they were, had wanted to harm him, they could have easily and probably would have by now.

The cloaked person was hiding behind the door and seemed to be trying to hide, though she had made it easy for Lucario to notice them. The cloak was red, as he had noticed before, and was about the same length as his own. The hood was slightly smaller and the sleeves smaller so even with this person's head bent, he could still see their face from the mouth down. The hands were visible too, though they were both covered in black gloves. From what he could tell from what he could see of the face and the shape of the hands, this was undoubtedly a human. He guessed this one was female, but he couldn't be sure since Aamira, being the only other human he had seen, was also female.

"So you're the would-be prince with the silver aura." She said, confirming Lucario's suspicions about the human's gender. "I hoped to find you before you left."

"Who are you?" Lucario asked. "Are you from Aamira's world?"

"Aamira?" She said. "Is that what you call her? A fitting name, I suppose. Much more fitting than the one she was given in our world."

This human was just as strange as Aamira had seemed when they first met. Maybe it had nothing to do with being an Aura Reader and this was just how all humans acted? "Well, you've answered one of my questions, in a roundabout way… But who are you?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? Very well, my name is Morrigan. A simple shepherd from Neltona. Though one of great skill, if I might add."

Lucario didn't know what a shepherd was, but he had a hard time believing that it could be anything "simple" if it had led her to come to a different world.

"Shepherds… we raise pokemon like Mareep and Flaffy." She said when Lucario asked. "Their fur is highly prized and it's more beneficial to raise them than to attack wild ones for their fur and risk injury to both human and pokemon. My partner, Haxorus, is an unusual sort. He's taken a liking to your friend and wants to see her kept safe now that she's escaped and arrived in his homeland."

"What do you mean 'escaped'? Was she captured by someone?"

"The fact that she escaped should imply it, yes." Morrigan reached into her hood and took something from around her neck. It was a pendant that looked like a cat's eye. The chain was covered in white feathers in a way that made it look like the gem had wings. "She'll need this in the future. Haxorus was quite adamant in that."

"You don't say?" Lucario took the strange pendant and after looking at it for a second, put it in his bag. He had never heard of a pokemon called Haxorus. He wondered how many pokemon lived in that world that he had never heard of before.

"I'd suggest you hide it somewhere where it won't be easily discovered. It would be safer if you take her to the pendant rather than vice versa."

"Why's that?" Lucario asked.

"She may not be as strong as a pokemon, but she can at least fight or run. That pendant cannot, and it is quite important."

"So why can't you give it to her?" Lucario asked.

"Xerxes doesn't like me much. I'm supposed to be hiding from him in Neltona and cannot risk returning to Dellevis any time soon. It's a long story. Let's just say that pendant isn't one that would be given lightly to a shepherd."

"Meaning… you stole it."

Morrigan smiled mischievously. It was strange only being able to see her mouth, and yet it really did add to the effect of a thief in disguise. He didn't bother asking who Xerxes was. He had a feeling she wouldn't tell him anyway.

Lucario thought he heard someone approaching and in the second he looked away, Morrigan had vanished. The one approaching turned out to be a messenger, no doubt running an errand for Ruko. He didn't even notice Lucario as he ran by.

Lucario continued down to the garden, keeping in mind that he now had two missions he had to do. With the Looking Glass restored, the aura in this world was gradually repairing itself. The garden was already bursting with life and many bug type pokemon now made their home there, especially Volbeat and Illumise. According to Ruko though, the garden had been even greater at one point. It was hard to imagine, but no doubt it was a good way to tell how well their world was recovering.

Hunter was standing with his arms folded impatiently in front of the pond in the center of the garden. Reflected in the pond was a forest that didn't look familiar to Lucario. "What took you so long? I didn't think that getting some last minute items would take this long."

"It's a big castle; what do you expect?" Lucario felt that he shouldn't mention the human who was in the castle, though he wasn't sure why. "So what do I do to get through the portal? Just jump in?"

"Sort of. Stand on the water's surface and you'll be transported to the area reflected in the water. It works the same way as getting to Atra through the Dark Rift."

Lucario stood on the surface of the pond water. He was somewhat anxious to get away from Hunter and he kept thinking of Morrigan and the pendant she had given him. He had to find Aamira as soon as he could. The light from the sun in that world shone on his fur and in a few seconds he was suddenly standing in the center of that forest that was reflected in the pond.

He figured the first thing he should probably do was find a pokemon who could give him directions to this Dellevis place. It was probably best to avoid humans before contact with them was inevitable, since he didn't know how pokemon and humans generally interacted in this world.

He quickly decided on a story that would explain why he didn't know anything about this region. He was a stowaway on a ship who came to this region to find a friend who had visited his country briefly. While trying to find out where she lived, he was chased by bandits and finally lost them, but only after running farther than he could tell and getting severely disoriented.

He scanned the area with his aura and managed to find a small cave hidden beneath some rocks near a small tree. It could be easily concealed and he thought that he probably wouldn't find a better hiding place soon. Just to be safe, he covered the entrance with some foliage and hid the pendant under some stones in the back of the cave.

So now he had a cover story and a temporary base of operations. What was he supposed to do now? It was getting late and he didn't like the idea of spending a night in the open in a world he didn't know about. Even in his world of endless night, many people were reluctant to go out when the light of the Solar flowers died down.

He decided to stay put for the time being and get as much rest as he could. Before he had always had someone else to guide him with what he should do when he first got to a new world. Some vague hints at the very least. All Lucario knew was that Aamira had gone missing and he had to find her. How would he do that? He would have to start at this Dellevis and hopefully find some clues from there.

Lucario didn't like how the aura in this world felt. It just felt off somehow. He knew that sleep could help him regain energy faster and in greater quantities, but the aura in this world made his skin crawl. Just as he was finally about to get to sleep, he heard some rustling outside the cave.

He stood up as quietly as he could, keeping an eye on the soul out of the corner of his eye, and used his aura to look for the possible enemy outside. It was some sort of bird pokemon from the looks of it, just pecking around looking for a nighttime meal. Maybe this would be a good chance for Lucario to get some information. Surely a flying type would know a lot about the geography and would be able to help him find where he had to go.

Lucario walked cautiously towards the entrance of the cave, just in case his visitor did turn out of be a violent one. "I'm sorry to bother you this late at night, but you wouldn't happen to know how I could get to Dellevis?"

The bird perked his head up and looked around for the source of the voice. "You're quite lost if you're trying to get to that country. You're almost as far as Neltona and you're trying to find Dellevis?"

So they were names of countries. This was useful information, at least. "I'm trying to track down a friend of mine. I come from a far away region and I'm afraid I don't know much about the geography here."

"How did you get to the heart of the continent from another country and miss Dellevis? Unless you came from Neltona and have been going the right way this entire time. So how did you get here?"

"I stowed away on a ship."

The bird pokemon suddenly went quiet. Lucario had a feeling that she was trying to keep from laughing. "What a tragedy you are so far. The major port city is the capitol of Dellevis."

'Oh perfect…' Lucario thought. "I was caught by some people inspecting the crates. As it turns out, sea travel doesn't agree with me as well as I had hoped and I hadn't been able to escape the ship on time. I managed to run off but by the time I was out of the city I just kept running until I thought they were gone. Although at that point I was entirely lost. I spent the next few days running from vicious wild pokemon, most likely from wandering into their territories by accident, and I was attacked by several groups of… well I assume they were bandits."

"Is that so…" The bird said. "Why don't you come out here so I can see your face? It's easier to tell an honest person from a liar by seeing their face."

Lucario was somewhat reluctant to, but figured it was the best way to get information. He crawled out of the cave and the second the bird pokemon saw him started screeching and flapping her wings vigorously.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"Y-You're a… a… Well…" she finally calmed down, though she still seemed somewhat untrusting. "Ah, I'm sorry. Canines aren't very trusted these days by most pokemon. Tell me again what it was that you had gone through." Lucario repeated his story, being sure to keep eye contact the whole time. "Ah, yes I see now. I'm not sure if what everything you're saying is true, but I can tell from how you move and talk that you're not from anywhere in this region. You have a strange scent too, no doubt a lingering one from that country you're from. Well I'll give you some help then. My name is Tranquill by the way."

"I'm Lucario." Lucario said. "I've never seen a Tranquill before. Your species must not visit my country very often."

"I'm not familiar with Lucario myself." Tranquil replied. "What's the name of the country you come from?"

"I come from Chalybs. It's a desert country near the ocean."

"A desert near the ocean…" Tranquill said. "Come to think of it, a cousin of mine did mention seeing something like that when trying to find a new migratory route. She said it didn't look like there would be enough food so she didn't bother to stop by. That must be why you don't see any Tranquill there."

Lucario nodded. "Makes sense." He figured that if this pokemon was going to help him with his story that he might as well go along with it. "So can you tell me how to get to Dellevis?"

"Sure, you just go west from here. There are several towns along the way, but I would suggest not stopping for anything. Especially since there are more Alphas in that area."

"Alphas?" Lucario asked.

"The king of Dellevis has this certain pokemon as his partner, you see? From what I hear, it's a rare case. The king's pokemon is the same gender as he is. Some people say that this somehow is what makes them a stronger team. That Houndoom of his is a real piece of work though. A real monster. If you saw him, you'd understand. Anyway, this Houndoom was considered the Alpha among all other Houndoom and Houndour. All of the other canines respected his pack and would do anything that they asked. Well apparently Houndoom sent out a call to all of the other canine pokemon to gather outside of the capitol city. Since you're not from Dellevis, I guess you didn't get that call. They'll most likely see you as a rogue though. I'm not sure what they do with rogues, but I'm not curious enough to find out."

"So the Alphas refer to a group made of all of the canine pokemon from Dellevis?"

"Not all of them. Quite a few, mostly those with children, fled to other countries when the call went out. Even for the ones not with the Alphas, it's becoming a problems as they're starting to run out of territory in other countries and competing for food with other pokemon is starting to become an issue. At this point I'm too scared to forage in the day."

"Of course if there really is a limited space for them to live in, then they might end up forming larger groups like the Alphas. It sounds to me like Houndoom is trying to form opposing armies."

"It does, doesn't it?" Tranquill said with a smirk. "You know, you seemed unsure of everything up until now. Wherever you really come from, I don't envy you and I won't pry, but it seems like your country is one used to war. Or has perhaps just come out of a war."

Well, here it was. Tranquill hadn't been fooled for even a second. Lucario must have been loosing his touch, though he felt like he could trust her. "It was something like a war, I suppose. Anyway, you said it was to the west, didn't you? I know this is a strange question, but which direction is that?"

Tranquill pointed with her beak in the direction that Lucario had originally come from. "Just keep going in that direction. Technically you're just inside the border of Dellevis already. The capitol city is that way though. If you're really looking for a friend, I recommend starting there."

So in this world the sun rose in the opposite direction from Quill's. While in his world, the sun rose in the east and set in the west, in this world it rose in the west and set in the east. Lucario was glad he asked. He would have gone in the wrong direction for sure.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are the humans like in Dellevis?"

Tranquill sighed. "I don't know anymore. I make an effort to stay away from them as much as I can. Humans and pokemon have always coexisted somewhat peacefully until about four years ago. Ever since that incident, when a child was apparently kidnapped by a pokemon from the capitol city, their king has changed. Or so I hear. He dislikes wild pokemon like myself with such a great intensity."

'Four years…' Lucario thought. 'That's around the time when Aamira came to Atra. I doubt it's a coincidence. She must be from the capitol city then.'

"I should go, but before I leave you, can you be heard by humans?"

"I'm not sure what you mean…" Lucario said. "Can't all humans understand pokemon?"

"Your country really is a strange one. But no. Apparently the humans from where you're going hate wild pokemon, but they absolutely despise wild pokemon that they can hear. They think that these pokemon have mastered speaking in a human language, without realizing that it's not our speech that's the problem; it's their hearing. If you don't know, you should be careful about speaking to humans. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. It's extremely rare. Humans are all near deaf if you ask me."

"So maybe some pokemon just speak a little louder." Lucario said, half joking.

To his surprise, Tranquill actually laughed. "I like you. I like you a lot. It's too bad you'd be so caught up in this business with the Alphas just by being a canine. I wish I could help. I really do. Truthfully I'm surprised you've avoided them this far without knowing anything about this country. You must have had some kind of help, I expect."

"Well, back home there were a few who helped me sneak onto the ship. Of course everyone around here is scared of canines, so I haven't been able to get much help."

"Oh, so that means you came here all on your own too, did you? It must have been incredibly lonely, stuffed into that crate all of that time on your way to this region. Poor thing. You're not even very good at lying are you? After all, crates are used in wagons. It's barrels that are used to transport things on ships."

Tranquill flew into the air. Lucario reacted immediately by using Dragon Pulse, but Tranquill was so fast and was easily able to avoid the attack. She flew higher into the air and attacked with Sky Attack. Lucario couldn't believe how strong her attack was. Before he had the chance to counter attack, he was knocked unconscious.

Lucario woke up sometime the next day. He felt that he was moving in some sort of rickety fashion that he didn't enjoy. It was probably the uncomfortable motion that had woken him up to begin with. It was bright out and the sunlight felt nice, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something here was wrong.

He sat up in some sort of cage, made from steel as far as he could tell, though he noticed that he couldn't sense the aura of anything outside of it. The forest he had been in had faded into some sort of grassy area. There were still a lot of trees, but not nearly as many as in the forest. The grass was just tall enough to come up over the edge of the cage, which seemed to be suspended on wheels. A human child, around Aamira's age when he first met her, was pulling the cage while Tranquill flew circles around them.

"Traitor…" Lucario said under his breath. He was surprised by how raspy his voice sounded.

Tranquill flew around the cage and landed on top of it. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"I heard him fine." The human boy said. "You were right about that one. Catching a rogue is one thing, but one that speaks as well. We'll finally have enough silver to afford that new house."

"Out of the slums! It's about time!" Tranquill said with a cheerful flap of her wings. "Oh I can almost see that porch garden now with the bird bath and the railing that's just the perfect width for my claws to wrap around while perching on it."

Lucario sat up and tried to use Aura Sphere, but his aura wasn't working the way it should. It reminded him of when Mismagius had altered the dungeons in order to keep Aamira, Quill, and himself from escaping.

Tranquill laughed and perched on the top of the cage. "You silly little fool. You can't break through these bars; they're made of Leuminite. You don't know much of anything, do you? They don't have Leuminite in your country? It cuts off your connection with the dragon force. If you can't access that, you can't use any attacks."

Lucario crossed his legs and sat in silence. If a talking pokemon was such a rare thing, then he wouldn't give them the pleasure of hearing his voice. There was no point in trying to escape right now; he could tell just from sitting on the Leuminite floor of the cage that it was beyond his power to break without using his aura or any attacks. He wondered where Aamira could be and, while his captors weren't looking, he took a cautious glance down at her soul that he thankfully had kept a hold of while unconscious.

The whole time Lucario sat in silence, his captors continued to talk with one another. It seemed apparent that they had no personal secrets. Any secrets shared by these two were secrets that belonged to both of them. The partnership between humans and pokemon in this world was an amazing and frightening thing.

After a while the terrain turned into some low hills at the base of a tall mountain range. The trees became sparser, although the height of the grass in this area made up for it. Near the base of the mountains was another forest, though much smaller than the other one. The trees grew closely together and made it really dark under the trees. Combined with the setting sun, it made it almost impossible to see.

There was a rustle in the underbrush nearby and the human and Tranquill stopped. A Manectric jumped out onto the path with his fur bristling with electricity, but stopped when he recognized the two of them.

"Ah, you've caught another one." Manectric said in an even tone. "Good. We can't have these rogues running around freely. Using the two of you had paid off more than I could have imagined."

"Don't underestimate him just because he's a kid." Tranquill said. "I'm strong and with this guy we're unbeatable as a team. Can we go through now?"

"Of course. Watch out for Ursaring. We noticed a cave belonging to a family of them in the area. I'm afraid they might attacks us for trespassing."

Tranquill nodded and repeated the message for her partner. When she was done, Manectric ran off to another part of the forest and they continued along the path.

So as far as Lucario could tell, humans were rarely able to understand pokemon. Based on how these two interacted, Lucario came to two possible conclusions; either Tranquill was one of those rare pokemon who could be heard by humans, or humans were always able to understand their pokemon partners even if no one else could. The second possibility made the bond between humans and pokemon sound even more eerie than it had before. It just didn't seem natural.

As they continued, Lucario noticed an increased number of sentries roaming around the forest. Some were lone pokemon, some were lone humans, and some were a pokemon and a human together.

They entered a clearing at the base of a large cliff where there were more people than ever, most of them gathered around campfires. A few of them cast a curious glance in Lucario's direction. It didn't seem that they were used to a pokemon coming through here so calmly. Or maybe it was just because Lucario were a rare pokemon.

There were other cages like the one that Lucario was in surrounding the outer edge of the campground. He looked around and noticed that a few of the pokemon there appeared to be there reluctantly. Strangely enough, it didn't look like they put up much of a fight after they got here, in spite of a few faint claw marks on the insides of the cages. They seemed to have fought on the way there but gave up as soon as they entered the camp.

There were a lot of humans and pokemon alike in the area, so it seemed strange at first that Lucario's attention would be drawn to one in particular. As the human boy was pulling his cage through the crowd, Lucario felt a sudden chill go up his spine. He turned around and noticed one human who was dressed entirely in black staring at him. His green eyes seemed to be looking straight through Lucario. Maybe they were; he couldn't think of any other way that just a glance from this seemingly normal human would affect him like this, especially since this cage prevented him from sensing any aura outside of it.

"What are you doing!" Tranquil snapped at him in a low whisper so that even her partner couldn't hear. "Don't stare at him or you'll be in for some serious trouble."

"Why? Who is that?" Lucario asked.

"He's the king of Dellevis I told you about." Tranquil whispered back. "Look, I don't like this Alpha business at all. The only reason we're doing this is because we're in a really bad situation and desperately need some money. Even if it weren't for the money though, when Xerxes of all people asked us to do this, we didn't have much of a choice."

"That's Xerxes?" Lucario glanced back at him.

"Stop doing that!" Tranquil said. "Yes, that's Xerxes and his partner, Houndoom."

"Houndoom?" Lucario looked back to Xerxes and noticed that what he had taken to be a boulder at first was actually a huge Houndoom.

How could a pokemon like Houndoom even grow to a size like that? Looking around the camp again though, he noticed that a lot of the pokemon there were Houndoom or Houndour. So the Houndoom was the one in charge, although everyone seemed more terrified of his partner for some reason. Maybe Xerxes had been the one who had put Houndoom up to calling all of them together like this. But why? Whatever the reason, he didn't like the looks of this.

Lucario had been staring in their direction for a while, but not at either of them in particular. It took him a while to realize what he was staring at, but he thought that his eyes must have been playing tricks on him. Sitting near the two of them was a Cyndaquil eating an apple. The strangest thing about it was the Joy Ribbon on its neck.

It took him a moment to realize that this Cyndaquil wasn't Quill. With a closer look, he realized that this one was actually a female and a lot smaller than Quill. Besides, Quill had evolved into a Quilava a long time ago. Still, what were the odds of coming across a pokemon that looked so much like him? Especially since, aside from Tranquill, the only pokemon gathered were canines.

After a while, Tranquill and her partner left Lucario entirely alone. He turned to see that Xerxes was standing right outside of his cage. He couldn't help but jump in surprise. He hated how he couldn't sense anything with his aura while inside that cage. No doubt giving him a little shock like that was exactly what was intended.

"Well met, Atran." Xerxes said. His voice alone was enough to give Lucario the creeps. There was something about it that sent a chill down his spine. He hadn't even realized at first what Xerxes had called him.

"You… how do you…?"

"How do I know where you come from?" He said. "You smell like an Atran, that's why. Lucario are a terribly common Atran species as well. You should have tried to disguise yourself, as Lucario aren't a native species to this world."

Lucario thought for one horrifying second that Xerxes had glanced down towards Aamira's soul. It was hard to keep from moving and giving away that he was in fact holding something. He had to struggle to convince himself that the only one who could see a soul was the person holding it.

"So tell me," Xerxes said, "who exactly are you? It's not an every day pokemon that would be able to travel between worlds."

"I'm Atra's ambassador." Lucario didn't know why he said anything at all. He just suddenly found that he couldn't do anything but tell him the truth.

"Ah, so perhaps I haven't been forgotten after all." He said. "Have you come for an audience? Or perhaps it's for some other reason." Lucario didn't know what he was talking about, which must have been easy to see. "Hmm… forgotten after all, I see. So, why exactly did you come here?"

Lucario was struggling not to say anything. He had a horrible feeling that telling him any more than he already had would have some extremely unpleasant consequences later on. There was no doubt this guy was dangerous and Lucario was also struggling with the feeling that there would be unpleasant consequences sooner rather than later if he didn't say anything. He struggled to try to look away from his eyes, but this was the first time while in this cage that he had ever felt truly and hopelessly trapped.

Luckily, Lucario was rescued at the last second by a pained howl coming from near one of the campfires. Xerxes turned to the source of the sound and broke his eye contact with Lucario. Lucario looked passed him and noticed the Manectric from earlier, doubled over and with tears running down his face. He saw his mouth moving and assumed he had said something that had caught the attention of the other pokemon, though Lucario couldn't hear what it was from this distance.

He noticed the pokemon who were with human partners repeating what Manectric had said. Immediately, the panic among the humans started to rise as well. Off in the distance, there was a loud roar and everyone started to shuffle around nervously.

"How many times have I said it!" Xerxes shouted, his voice no longer sounding as pleasant as it had before. "No humans are to go off on their own without a pokemon accompanying them! I want two teams to go off after that Ursaring, now!"

An extremely pale human, just barely an adult, volunteered along with his partner, Growlith. With her fire, it would be easier to find their way around. A Houndoom and a pokemon that Lucario didn't recognize volunteered as well and the four of them headed off into the forest.

"I'll deal with you in the morning." Xerxes whispered back to Lucario as he moved back among the crowed to try to calm everyone down. It took Lucario a minute to realize what had happened; Manectric's partner had died. Somehow, he had been able to feel it when it happened.

There was a loud crashing sound in the distance, and every now and then they would hear another roar. After about half an hour since the team of four had departed, the Houndoom and the other pokemon came back carrying the Growlith and human on their backs. The Growlith seemed to have several broken bones and the human was completely still and unmoving, though he looked unharmed.

Houndoom got to his feet and walked up to the larger of the two pokemon. "Stoutland, what happened?"

"It knocked a tree over." Stoutland said. "Growlith dodge its first attack and didn't have any time to move out of the way. We were too preoccupied to pull her out from underneath right away. By the time we were able to…"

Houndoom growled loudly. "Well how many of them were there?"

"Just one, sir." The other Houndoom said. "I've never seen one of that size though. It's going on a rampage. There was nothing we could do but run at the first chance we got. It's traveling in this direction. Dislikes humans in its forest, I think."

So Growlith had died when crushed by the tree. Of course, that meant her human partner died too, which is why he didn't seem to have been hurt. This situation was becoming dangerous. Everyone would be in a panic if that Ursaring came through here. There was no way such an unorganized group could fight off a mad Ursaring. Lucario couldn't help but notice that this was potentially the reason that all of the cages, including the one he was currently in, had been positioned around the camp. They were there to give everyone in the camp extra protection, though that just meant he was in an even more dangerous position.

"Let me fight it!" Lucario shouted to Houndoom so loudly that the rest of the camp turned to stare at him. The humans all seemed amazed that he could speak. Somehow, Xerxes seemed somewhat surprised by their reactions, though he must have known that humans could hear him.

"What do you think?" Houndoom asked his partner.

"What have we got to lose?" Xerxes said. "After all, it's not as if he could run if he wanted to. There are too many of us and there's a high chance he would come across that Ursaring anyway. Very well, let him out."

Manectric glared in Xerxes direction as he went to unlock Lucario's cage. He seemed to blame him for the loss of his partner.

"I'm not going to run." Lucario whispered to him. "Don't worry; I'll be able to beat this Ursaring."

Manectric retreated to the other side of the camp where everyone else was. Xerxes and Houndoom didn't seem particularly troubled by the current events, though the Cyndaquil with them was trembling with fright and clutching her Joy Ribbon nervously. The other cages were moved into a more convenient formation in order to protect the rest of the camp while Lucario was left defenseless on the outside.

After a few minutes, there was another roar and Lucario heard the sound of its footsteps and it tromped through the forest in their direction. It was, in fact, a lot larger than most other Ursaring, though it didn't look much stronger. For all that Lucario had heard of them, the Alphas couldn't be that dangerous if they were so easily beaten by an Ursaring.

"Your smell…" The Ursaring said as it walked towards Lucario. "It smells familiar. Someone I know… Uh, who was it?" They both stood staring at each other. Though Lucario normally wouldn't have any trouble beating an Ursaring like this, that didn't mean he was going to lower his guard. "Ah, that's right. It was that one's smell. You smell like that human… You smell like a human!"

The Ursaring roared again and charged towards Lucario, acting as if she hadn't even noticed the rest of the people on the outside of the camp watching with fear. Lucario easily dodged the Ursaring's wild attacks and managed to sneak behind it. The Ursaring stopped her attack and swayed to the side, as if dizzy. Apparently she had overused Thrash from rampaging around the forest and had become confused.

Lucario managed to trip it from behind, but she managed to regain her balance at the last minute and attacked with Slash. There were a few terrified shouts as the claws tore through the air, but at the last second, Lucario caught the Ursaring's paw and counter attacked with Aura Sphere, sending her flying into a nearby tree, which toppled back and was caught by a few of the other trees behind it.

Ursaring stood up and attacked with Thrash again, but before she even got close to Lucario, he attacked with Dragon Pulse. Ursaring had started to tremble and was now staggering backwards in an attempt to get away.

"You fight like her too. Ruthless. It's her fault, you know." The Ursaring turned and ran back through the forest. Both the humans and the pokemon were cheering now. It took a while for the noise to die down. When it did, Xerxes started to clap slowly.

"Yes, very well done." He acted as if he had witnessed nothing more than an organized match between two Investigation Team members. "You see, my friends, that is what the Alphas can offer you. Soon, you will be able to fight just as well as this Lucario here."


	3. Chapter 3 Audino and the Enemy

Quill was feeling strangely homesick. He had been away from home before and he had been in other worlds before, but somehow this one felt different. Sure, over the past few days, he had been staying in a forest much like Sylva and had been living near a lake much like Lake Harmony, but that wasn't it. It was that something literally felt different. It felt as though something had gotten under his skin and was now irritating him so severely that he found it difficult to sleep. It must have been a strange aura in this world. As an Aura Guardian, he was slightly more sensitive to the energy of the world around him than most others were.

"That's the dragon force, yes sir." Victini said, when Quill voiced his concerns about this. "There's a different kind in each of the three major regions. Those three regions are where the three most powerful countries are."

"Sorry to ask, but what is the dragon force exactly?" Quill asked.

"It's energy that runs through the ground. Really powerful. It's where I get my energy from too, yes sir. It only exists on this continent though. Anywhere else from the ocean onward is just a regular energy."

"So you get your energy from it, but what's it for exactly?" Quill asked.

"Humans can use it too. Some don't know how. Some can use it to make their partners even stronger than they would be otherwise. Pokemon can't normally use it though. Aside from dragon types. They can use it. And me. I'm no dragon type, but I can too."

During the last few days, Quill had been staying in the forest while trying to decide on a course of action. He knew that Daisy was in trouble, but had no way of tracking down Houndoom. The real reason he had stayed though was because he was injured; more injured than he had been in a long time, in fact, and he needed time to heal. He realized that he wouldn't be able to fight Houndoom on his own next time. If Daisy hadn't come to his rescue when she had, getting kidnapped in the process of course, he would have been thrown over the edge of the cliff for sure.

But now that Quill was healed, he had no idea what to do next. Quill liked Victini well enough, but he could act a little weird at times. Aside from that, they were both fire types, so it wouldn't make sense to ask for Victini's help with fighting another fire type. Even worse, he was part psychic type, which put him at a disadvantage.

"So what do you think I should do?" Quill asked Victini one morning.

"How about you come to Mt. Victoria with me?" Victini said. "That's where I really live. I'm just protecting this forest as a favor."

"Is there anything interesting there?" Quill asked.

"There are the Bronzong." Victini said. "Once a year during the Festival of Storms, they open up gateways to other worlds to provide the crops in the farmlands with extra rain. Unfortunately, this area doesn't get any storms at all and very little rain. The best time to plant crops in this area due to the sun is during a long drought, so everyone really relies on them."

"So if I asked, they could take me back to my world?" Quill said.

Victini nodded. "They usually do whatever I ask them to. You could go back if you wanted."

Quill agreed to go to Mt. Victoria with Victini, though he had no plans of leaving without Daisy. There was another reason he wanted to stay though. This lake and the huge castle in the distance… there was no doubt that this was the place that he had seen in his dream. This place was most likely Aamira's world. If the source of the light in his dream was really Victini, as it had been in real life, then it was possible that Victini knew where Aamira was. Even so, something made Quill hesitate to ask.

"You're her friend, aren't you?" Victini asked as they were on the path up the side of the mountain.

They hadn't spoken for a while, so hadn't been expecting it when Victini spoke. "What do you mean?"

"Aamira." Victini said. "At least, that's the name she's stubbornly decided to go by. I do like it. She never liked her old name. She used to tell me stuff that she never wanted to tell anyone else. When she came back and came to the forest again, I sure was surprised, yes sir. All she said was that if either a Lucario or a Quilava by the name of Quill came through, they could most likely be trusted."

"What do you mean most likely?" Quill asked. Was it possible that something had happened so that Aamira didn't even trust them anymore?

"Aamira Brighteyes can see through illusions." Victini said. "Illusions are trouble. I can't see through them, so you could be an imposter. Xerxes already knows about the two of you. He's a mean one, yes sir. He could have made an illusion that looked like you. Since you came to the lake though, I'm pretty sure you're no imposter."

"Well what about Lucario?" Quill asked. "She just said if a Lucario came through. What if it was a different one?"

"Most unlikely." Victini said. "Lucario don't live in this world. Xerxes didn't like them, so he got rid of them. A lot of species have vanished. I'm the very last Victini. For Lucario though, he's made sure that no one even remembers that such a pokemon ever existed."

"Why's that?" Quill asked.

"Dunno." Victini said. "He's just a cold hearted one, yes sir. Wouldn't ever go anywhere near him if I could help it. Oh I remember when he first showed his face around here. Just trying to gain people's trust, I thought. Sure enough… well, you could probably see the effects of his reign if you stayed around long enough."

"What about Aamira?" Quill asked. "And Daisy? Do you know where either of them are?"

"Aamira asked me to wait here in case one of you showed up. She had a feeling you would. She said that if one of you turns up, I should have you hide on Mt. Victoria until she comes back. The Alphas should keep looking for her in larger areas and will hopefully abandon this area, not expecting her to come so close to home. Well, that's the plan anyway. Problem is, I haven't had any word from her since she left and that was around six months ago. For all I know, she could have been brought back to the castle already."

Quill had figured out a while ago that Victini was a little strange, but was surprised when he noticed a few tears starting to form in his eyes. He really cared about Aamira for some reason. Of course he cared too, but he knew Aamira could handle any trouble that came her way on her own. And yet Victini seemed to be overly worried.

"Aamira's tougher than you might think, you know." Quill said. "I'm more worried about Daisy. She can't even control her fire yet."

"I made a promise a long time ago." Victini said. "I promised to watch over her. I don't even think she's ever realized how much I've done to protect her. Sure, she's always been somewhat stronger than most humans, but if anything happened… Oh, I could never forgive myself."

"If you're that worried, why don't we go look for her together?" Quill asked. "We'll do our best to stay hidden. That way you'll still be doing what she asked and you can go see for yourself if she's okay."

Victini shook his head frantically. "Oh no, what a terrible idea! What if we leave and she comes back while we're gone? She said she'd come back, so we must wait! If something has happened, I'm sure she'll find a way to send a message. She wouldn't forget that I'm waiting here. No way!"

'But she did forget, didn't she?' Quill thought. He had a feeling that this had something to do with how Aamira had lost her memory. To suddenly return to her own world where she met an old friend who she could no longer remember… it must have been difficult for both of them.

When they finally made their way to the valley between the two peaks of the mountain, Victini stopped so suddenly that Quill nearly walked right into him. Sitting on the ground was a small bird pokemon that Quill didn't recognize. It was holding a hastily folded note in its beak.

"Pidove!" Victini said. "But if you're here then… Oh, there must be trouble."

"Maybe, maybe not. I left two nights ago. Had to fight through a blizzard, of course." Pidove said when Victini took the letter from his beak. "Things didn't seem too bad when I left, though things might have changed since."

Victini unfolded the letter and read it out loud so Quill could hear. "Dear Victini, I'm afraid that plans have changed somewhat. At first I was somewhat suspicious that there were so many people around Dargan in winter, as the weather is especially bad during this time. Fortunately, this group of people was nothing more than some traveling minstrels who were on their route out of the mountains before the really bad weather came. Unfortunately, it delayed my departure and made it too risky to send a letter at the time. Now a new danger is coming our way. I've asked the Woobat to keep an eye out for trouble at night. I've just gotten word that some of the guards are in the area, apparently on some kind of hunt for furs. With too many people around, I'm afraid that leaving suddenly will draw too much attention and people will start to ask questions. I'm sending this letter on the off chance that they do come through this town; if they do, I want to get word to you before I'm unable to. The danger could pass, but as a precaution I'd like to make a change to our plans. To the west of my location and the east of yours there's a small secluded valley where the snow doesn't reach. Instead of returning to you, could you meet me there instead? Good luck, and say hi to Quill or Lucario for me if one of them really did show up."

"So we'll get to leave after all." Quill said.

Victini was squinting hard at the signature at the bottom as if to make sure it really was Aamira's. Quill knew her signature by now and, unless it was Mew copying her handwriting again, he didn't see how anyone could confuse such messy handwriting for anyone else's.

Seemingly satisfied that the signature hadn't been forged, Victini looked towards the setting sun. "Almost night. It's a shame, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to set off."

"Why's that?" Quill asked. "We're both fire types; surely we would be able to light up the path enough to see the way forward in the dark."

Victini shook his head. "Traveling by night is no good. If it was a new moon, maybe… It doesn't really have to do with light though. I don't really understand it myself, but Aamira says to stay out of sight of the moon."

Quill sighed. He supposed it couldn't be helped. Soon enough at least, they would be meeting up with Aamira. Maybe she would even have some idea of where Daisy had been taken.

It was Lucario's third night in this world and he had never felt so sick. Having to deal with this world's strange energy was one thing, but then he found out that the members of the Alphas were primarily carnivores. They never hunted other pokemon at least; the meat eaters in this world were lucky enough to have an abundance of animals to choose from.

They were the strangest things that Lucario had ever seen. Some shared a striking resemblance with certain species of pokemon, though none of them were capable of speech. Lucario remembered how he had been able to communicate with Daisy, Aamira's doll who had turned into a living Banette, by using his aura. Even though she couldn't speak, he could understand her well enough. It was the same with these strange, powerless creatures.

That was, perhaps, what still made it seem so wrong to him. Animals didn't have any attacks the way pokemon did, as strange as that seemed. They had no way to defend themselves. While they might be an easy meal for any carnivore, they were still living creatures with souls. Holding Aamira's soul, it was hard not to think about this.

The smell was even worse. Lucario tried to ignore it and only ate the strongest smelling fruits to try to block it out. Many of the other pokemon gave him strange looks. Apparently vegetarian canines weren't terribly common.

Xerxes had spoken to him a few times after he chased off the Ursaring. Lucario was convinced that this was no ordinary human. The way he acted and the way he looked around at the other humans and even the pokemon made it seem like he thought they were all beneath him. Normally this would just seem like arrogance to Lucario, but he didn't have any doubt who was the most dangerous in this group.

The Cyndaquil had disappeared when he woke up the morning after he fought the Ursaring. Lucario was somewhat worried about her. She had seemed really scared before, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to worry about her too much. He had been in a bad situation himself and he had the feeling that this Cyndaquil could take care of herself, though maybe that was just due to her resemblance to Quill.

One thing had improved though; Lucario was no longer forced to stay in the cage, though he had someone watching him at all times. He wondered how many others here were under constant surveillance like himself. There was no way for him to know who exactly was here of their own free will and who wasn't. Without allies, he didn't dare try to escape. He might be able to defeat most if not all of the pokemon here, but that wasn't counting Xerxes and Houndoom.

This third night, the one who was keeping an eye on him was the Manectric whose partner had died when the Ursaring attacked. Out of everyone here, Lucario definitely thought of Manectric as his favorite. At the very least, he could sympathize with him.

Xerxes and Houndoom had gone off hunting together, which put everyone else on edge. They seemed to feel much safer with the two of them around. Lucario considered trying to run for it, but he had a feeling that he would run into the two of them if he tried. They must have been wearing something made of Leuminite, since he couldn't sense their aura at all. Either way, sneaking away with everyone on high alert would be difficult.

By the time they returned, most of the camp was already asleep. Lucario was pretending to be asleep, not wanting to be the only one awake. Talking with Xerxes was one thing he definitely didn't enjoy. After a while though, it seemed that the two of them had fallen asleep as well.

"Are you awake?" Manectric whispered to him. He was lying on the ground close to where Lucario was with one eye partially opened.

"Yea." Lucario replied in an equally quiet whisper.

"I never had the chance to thank you before." Manectric said. "Poor Molly… She was just a kid."

"I wish I could have helped." Lucario said truthfully.

"Don't blame yourself, it's Xerxes. He was going on about how he had told us not to let humans go off on their own with that Ursaring around. He sent her off on her own because I wasn't behaving myself. I thought that as long as I did as I was told, she wouldn't get hurt."

'That monster…' Lucario thought as he glanced in Xerxes' direction.

"Here I am pretending to sleep." Manectric said. "Like so many others in the camp. You know, dragon types are revered by most. That Dragon Pulse of yours really inspired a lot of people."

Lucario couldn't see the point that Manectric was trying to make, though if he strained his ears, he thought he could hear the faintest traces of whispers throughout the camp, hidden by the sound of leaves rustling in the wind. It seemed that they really weren't the only ones pretending to be asleep.

"What if I really did fall asleep while on guard duty though?" Manectric asked. "You wouldn't try to run away, would you?"

Now Lucario saw what he was getting at. "No, of course not."

"Good thing." Manectric said as he stifled a fake yawn. "I'm starting to get a little drowsy. I feel better knowing you won't try to run. Good night." Manectric gave Lucario a sly smile and closed his partially opened eye.

Lucario waited a few seconds before rising a few inches off of the ground and sneaking away. As soon as he was sure that he was a good enough distance away, he broke into a run. Luckily the moon was nearly full, so he didn't have any trouble seeing his way through the dense forest.

He didn't stop until the sun had started to rise. By now he had run so far north that he was finally out of the forest. He stopped for a minute to catch his breath. Since becoming Atra's ambassador, he had gotten used to running long distances. Even so, he hadn't eaten as much as he would have liked to over that last few days, so he didn't have much energy.

"Out for a little morning stroll, are we?" Lucario turned to see Xerxes standing directly behind him. How long had he been following him? "And here I thought that your loyalties were starting to sway."

"You're giving yourself too much credit." Lucario said, hoping his voice wasn't shaking.

"Yes, normally one such as yourself would be entirely under my control by now. I doubt that you're nothing but an ambassador. You must have had a remarkable teacher to develop such a high resistance to my presence already."

"What do you mean?" Lucario asked.

"Haven't figured it out yet, have you?" He said. "Very well, I suppose there's no point in hiding it from you."

The air around him started to shimmer. A large cloud of what looked and smelled like black ashes formed around him. Where there had been standing a human only seconds before, there was now a pokemon, but not one like Lucario had ever seen. Through his transformation, those eerie green eyes had remained, though they now had the look of a feral beast.

Lucario took a nervous step back and the pokemon attacked, knocking him to the ground and holding him with its long red claws just inches from his neck. Lucario didn't have any choice now but to stare up at his eyes. The only other choice he had was to look at the fangs that seemed to be dangerously close to him.

The pokemon laughed and stood up, backing away far enough to allow Lucario to stand back up, and sat on the ground, never once taking his eyes off of Lucario. "You really are a peculiar one. Most people, whether pokemon or human, when they see my true form, tend to scream or run away instantly. You're not stupid enough to run or rush into a fight and brave enough not to scream. Yes, I like you very much."

"Who are you?" Lucario demanded.

"My name is Zoroark." He said. "Xerxes as a human, of course. Just one of my many personas. Well then, I think I'll let you go this time. For most runaways, the last thing they ever see is me in my true form pouncing on them. You're more interesting than any of them though. Yes, you really would make a fine Alpha. Unfortunately, I doubt that any of the other recruits you had been traveling with will get very far. You, on the other hand, could go far. You're free to go, if you wish, but think about my offer."

Lucario hesitated for a moment. For some reason, it seemed strangely tempting. How far exactly could he go if he became an Alpha?

'No, I can't be thinking like this.' Lucario thought. 'I have to keep my priorities straight. Remember why I'm here in the first place.'

"Feeling hesitant, are we?" Zoroark asked. "That's fine; should we ever meet again, the offer is still open. While any teacher you may have had must have been a good one, I could teach you more. There are things I know that you could never even begin to imagine. It's strange, I've never considered taking on an apprentice before. Well, just think about it. I'm sure this won't be the last time we meet."

Zoroark turned and walked back towards the forest. As he walked away, the air shimmered again and he turned back into his human form. That answered one question at least. The reason he and that Houndoom were the same gender was because they weren't partners at all. They were both pokemon.

He had to get away. Sure, Zoroark had already let him go, but something about this encounter made it feel like he was still trapped. He looked around, trying to figure out which way to go. The forest would provide good cover, but no, that was where he had just run away from. Eventually he settled on running to the smaller mountains to the north.

The sun was rising now. The farther away from the forest he got, the better he started to feel. As he ran, he started to think about what had happened. Looking back on it, he couldn't really say what exactly Xerxes had looked like. He knew he had white hair, green eyes, and wore all black, but other than that, he couldn't remember. Zoroark was much easier to remember with the red fur around his mouth, the long red mane, and those terrible red claws. He was definitely a canine pokemon, though Lucario didn't know exactly how to describe him. He noticed that his mane had been tied up in some sort of blue circlet, which seemed oddly familiar somehow, though he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

In spite of the fangs and the claws and those creepy eyes, Lucario had to admit, there was nothing about this pokemon that he had never faced before. Why he had been so scared he didn't know. Maybe it was something about his aura? But that didn't make sense. He had noticed the Leuminite earring that he wore on his right ear. He hadn't been able to sense Zoroark's aura.

As Lucario was thinking and running at the same time, he was neglecting to pay much attention to where he was going. Although it was early in the morning, many of the pokemon living in the lowlands of the mountains were starting to stir. It was one of these pokemon who Lucario ran straight into, falling back and knocking her over in the process.

"Ah, I'm so sorry!" Lucario hurried back onto his feet and helped the poor pokemon up. "I should have been paying more attention to where I was going. I've just been having the worst couple of days and I wasn't thinking. I've been running all night… I'm so sorry."

"It's fine, it's fine; don't worry yourself over it." The pokemon stood up and started to brush the dirt out of her fur with her hands. "A little dirt never hurt anyone. In fact, I spend a lot of time around dirt. I love planting berries, you see."

This kind pokemon was pink and peach colored with large ears, bright blue eyes, and a fluffy white tail. Her very appearance made her look motherly and her personality only added to it.

"My name is Lucario." Lucario said. "I'm not from anywhere around here, so I don't know much about the area. I came here looking for a friend but I have no idea where she might be. Then I got caught up with all of this stuff with the Alphas and that Xerxes guy…"

The pink pokemon gasped. "You've met Xerxes? Oh, you poor thing. That must have been so frightening for you! He doesn't have a very good reputation with most wild pokemon, you know. I especially can't say I care much for him."

"Humans can't hear you, can they?" Lucario asked.

The pokemon nodded. "They've always been able to, ever since I learned to speak as a baby. I can't stand how Xerxes has started to run things though. What I want more than anything is a human partner, but I'm forced to hide in the mountains instead. Oh, but never mind that. You must be starving if you've been running for the entire night. Why don't you come back to my house with me and I'll fix you something to eat."

"I wouldn't want to impose…" Lucario didn't feel that it would be right to accept food from a pokemon after running into her like that.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all!" She said. "Though if you insist, I'll have to expand my garden soon and Diglett is away to visit his father in Neltona. I could use some help tilling the soil and getting rid of a lot of the pesky rocks that are in the way. Oh, where are my manners? Offering you food and asking for help and not even introducing myself. My name is Audino. It's a pleasure to meet you, Lucario."

Audino had been out since before dawn collecting a new species of berry that she had been told were growing in the area. Fortunately, none had been bruised when she was knocked over and she dropped her basket.

She led the way to a small cottage on a low ridge in the mountains. Next to it was a small garden that had been dug out of the stone. Many different species of berries were growing in it. Some were large trees that threatened to push up the smaller plants out of the ground and some were so small that Lucario thought they must have been seedlings, though he could still see the berries growing on them.

"So you're a vegetarian then?" Lucario asked.

"Yes, I hope that's alright." Audino said.

Lucario hadn't thought much on it, but he realized that he had fangs like any other canine did and realized that Audino had come to the obvious assumption. "Yea, it's fine. I am too. It just kind of took me by surprise that you were a vegetarian after spending the last few days with the Alphas."

"Oh really?" Audino asked. "I shouldn't have assumed, I'm sorry. You look so strong though. I assumed it had been from spending a lot of time hunting. Aside from that, there are the fangs and spikes."

"Well, I think the strength just comes with being a fighting type and traveling a lot." Lucario said.

"Is that so?" Audino said. "In that case, it really would save a lot of time if you could break those rocks on the edge of the garden. While you do that, I can get started with my baking. I'm expecting some company later so I was planning to cook anyway. If you do this for me, I'll have enough time to make an extra meal for you."

Breaking rocks wasn't too difficult, though it did take a long time and his arm started to feel stiff after a while. As he was still holding Aamira's soul, he could only use one arm at a time, though he made sure to switch arms when Audino wasn't looking. Around noon, Audino brought out a salad and some apple juice so that he could take a break and eat lunch. He didn't mind that it was thrown together somewhat hastily, the apple juice especially as there were a few seeds in the cup. Audino kept saying as they ate out in the garden that there would be an especially large dinner. She seemed really proud of her cooking. Even though she insisted the little salads were nothing compared to what she usually made, Lucario was more than content with it. It was the first proper meal that he had had since coming to this world.

After lunch was over, Lucario finished breaking up the rocks. After resting for a while, it only took him a couple of hours to finish. Taking a break had done him a lot of good, though he expected his shoulders would be really sore in the morning. As there was still some time before dinner was finished, Lucario volunteered to help till the soil as well. He didn't want to stop working only to need to wait. One of his philosophies was that there was no reason to be doing nothing when there was something that needed to be done, possibly because for the longest time, he didn't have the luxury of being able to do nothing.

When he had finished, he was happy to find that that Audino looked pleased with his work. She told him that she had just finished with her cooking and invited him to sit inside after he washed up in a nearby stream.

Audino's cottage only had one room in it. All of the walls were covered with shelves with various potted plats on them. There were a few dry leaves hanging from the ceiling giving the place the smell of autumn in spite of the smell of food. A few of the plants he recognized as herbs used in various medicines.

Aside from this, the cottage was fairly plain. There was a fluffy bed in the corner covered with a large quilt, a wood burning stove with a large counter next to it. Above the counter was one of the two circular windows and on top of it was an assortment of different foods that Lucario didn't recognize.

"He should have been here by now." Audino said. "Strictly speaking, no one's supposed to know he's come out here. I hope he didn't have trouble along the way… We really should be polite and wait for him before eating. So then, tell me a little about this friend you're looking for."

Had he mentioned looking for a friend? Lucario couldn't remember. No, he was sure he had. Being with the Alphas for the last few days had started to make him paranoid, even towards Audino, who had been so kind to him.

"Well, you know what I mean." Audino smiled slyly when she noticed Lucario's awkward expression. "You did say your friend was a girl, didn't you? So what's she like?"

"She's a little strange and has a bit of a temper." Lucario said. "Even so, she's done so much to help people and is extremely loyal to her friends, no matter what happens. We had been separated before, and each time we found each other again, I was so glad to see she was alright. The first time I thought for sure she had died. Although, it was because of me that she left to come back to her home country. I haven't seen her in around two years now."

"Ah, I see." Audino said, and she sounded truly sympathetic, though she still had the faintest traces of that sly smile. "Things must be difficult for you then. Would I be wrong in saying that she's more than just a friend to you?"

So that's what the smile was about. 'Would she be wrong in saying it?' Lucario wondered. "I don't know. I honestly don't. Things got really hectic for a while. When she was given the chance to go home, I knew she wouldn't want to go but would always live with regret if she didn't. I've wondered every day whether I did the right thing. I got into an argument with her on purpose so she would go. Even so, I was too ashamed to even say goodbye. I've wondered every day whether I did the right thing. She must hate me…"

"Oh, don't say that." Audino said. "I'm sure that's not true. You did what you did so that she would be happy, didn't you? You're a fine young gentleman and I'd dry up my garden before even thinking that anyone so close to you wouldn't feel the same way about you."

"She never even yelled at me." Lucario said. "If anything, that only made it worse. The quietness of her voice and that bitter laughter… I would have given just about anything for her to yell at me then. At least that way I'd know things hadn't changed."

"And how much have things changed really?" Audino said with a slight edge to her voice now. "You came here looking for that girl, didn't you? Tell me seriously that you came looking for her thinking that nothing had changed."

Lucario couldn't bring himself to do it. Maybe Audino was right and there really wasn't anything to worry about. "There is another problem though. She's a human."

"Oh, now I get it." Audino said. "She wasn't your partner, was she?"

"No, I'm a wild pokemon, but I'd like to think that we were just as close at one point. She found someone who could be a much better partner than I ever could though. Sees him as a little brother. They're as close as any real siblings could be."

"Being as close as real partners… Do you know how much that's saying?"

Lucario remembered how Audino had mentioned wanting a human partner. For a moment, he was afraid she would take offense, but she nearly smiled and stared dreamily into space.

"Humans and pokemon belong together, you see?" Audino said. "It's not as if two partners meet by complete chance. Normally when a human is born, their pokemon partner is already a few years old. I've heard friends tell me about what it's like to know they have a human partner waiting for them somewhere. Little Buneary… Oh, she was a sweet child. The way she described it, it was like someone was calling out to her from really far away. It was like everything had become brighter and everything had a new clarity to it. She still writes letters. I believe her partner is four years old now. Never leaves his side."

"Where I come from, there are no humans." Lucario said. "We don't have partners, so I don't understand it very well. I know pokemon get benefits like greater strength and the ability to evolve without certain items, but what does the human partner get? After all, if their pokemon dies, they die too, don't they? I've seen it myself just a few days ago."

Audino nodded gravely. "I remember an old friend of mine lost his partner. She was just a kid when she got buried under that rock slide. Oh, he was devastated. The last thing they ever did was get into an argument and said that neither of them ever wanted to see each other again. Well, he felt it, he did. Pokemon might not die when their human partners do, but he said that he might as well have. It's a pain that shakes the soul, he said. Said he swore he could even feel it physically. Maybe humans are spared that pain? I don't know.

"As for the benefits that pokemon get, most of us don't care about the added strength. Many pokemon are never able to evolve, since evolution is linked to a human's growth as a person. For humans though… Well, I've never known a human not to have a pokemon partner, so I can't tell you how they'd be without one. My guess is that they would be very lonely. A humans partner can be heard solely by them, so they're always there to listen and will never tell a soul. To always have someone to confide in must be the greatest thing. Just to have a friend that you know will always be by you… Oh, I know I'll get a human partner one day."

Lucario couldn't help smiling. He's known many people to have dreams growing up. Listening to the way Audino spoke, he thought that hers had to be one of the best he'd ever heard.

Audino's ears twitched and she turned towards the door. "I think my other guest is here. Strange though, I think I hear two sets of footsteps."

Lucario stood up and walked over to the window facing out the garden. Now that they had come closer, he could sense the aura of two distinct people. Since the window only showed the garden, he couldn't make out who it was approaching the cottage.

"Wait here, I'll go check."

Lucario could see the two people approaching in the darkness with the help of his aura. Even so, he wasn't prepared for how fast the smaller of the two was. Before he could even attempt to guess what species his enemies were, it attacked and he felt something like sharp blades cutting into his arm.

'They're using weapons of some sort.' Lucario thought. 'I'll have to knock them out quickly.'

Finally adjusting to his opponent's speed, Lucario fired an Aura Sphere and hit it just before it had another chance to attack. Just before the attack faded, the light allowed Lucario a brief glimpse of his opponent. It was a red, yellow, and grey pokemon that looked like a small suit of armor and was covered in sharp edges that looked like blades.

"Bisharp!" He heard the other one shout.

Lucario turned to the sound of the voice. By now his eyes were starting to adjust and he saw a human in a uniform of some sort running towards him and drawing a sworn. Lucario assumed he must have been a guard of some sort and therefore most likely worked for Xerxes. He was about to attack again when he heard Audino shouting from the doorway.

"Stop! Stop fighting at once!" She shouted angrily. "Lucario, he's the one I've been waiting for, though I wasn't expecting Bisharp to be here too. Faris, this is Lucario. He came to Dellevis looking for his friend and just recently escaped from the Alphas. I've been speaking with him for a while now. You can trust him."

The human called Faris stopped his attack instantly and sheathed his sword. Apparently to him Audino's word was worth a lot. Bisharp struggled to her feet, no doubt feeling slightly shaky after a point blank Aura Sphere.

"Well, that's enough excitement for me, thank you very much." Bisharp staggered into Audino's cottage and sat down in the chair closest to the window.

"I'm sorry, I tried to send you a message to let you know that both of us were coming." Faris said. "I must have given you a fright. Though not as much as your friend here did. When I saw a canine come storming out of your cottage like that… well what was I supposed to think?"

"Just a big misunderstanding then." Audino said cheerfully. "Well hurry on inside. The food has already gotten cold, but I suspect it will taste fine either way. I'm sorry I didn't think to make more for an extra person though."

"Oh, it's perfectly fine!" Faris said. "My goodness, Audino, you always make too much anyway!"

Audino laughed and went back inside, sitting across from Bisharp. Faris followed and sat where Lucario had previously been sitting, so Lucario sat between Audino and Bisharp and across from Faris. He would have preferred not to have to look directly at him though; his first encounter with humans in this world hadn't been a very good one. Maybe Lucario was imagining it, but it suddenly seemed like dinner had become a lot more awkward.


	4. Chapter 4 Hearth of Cinccino

A lot of the food that Audino had made were different types of pies and cakes, which Lucario didn't mind. After the only decent meal in this world being a salad, they seemed like the most delicious things he had ever eaten. She had also made a few steamed vegetables, but hardly any of them were eaten.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to stay the night." Faris said to her. "Plans have changed drastically. The queen of Neltona has apparently fallen ill, so security has been increased at the border. I had to volunteer to go to the old Mirror Palace to guard it against any possible attacks."

"My goodness…" Audino shook her head. "Neltona and Dellevis will never get along, will they? Always acting as if they're on the brink of war. Act like that and there will be war, I tell you."

"Don't have any choice though, do we?" Faris said. "I can't make Xerxes suspicious, so I can't abandon my post. Wherever he sends me, I'll have to go. Pretend to follow blindly as I always had before."

Audino nodded. "All of those fools who follow him blindly will pay the price one day. That's why I like my new friend here. He's not only a little gentleman, but has managed to escape from Xerxes."

"You don't say?" Faris said. "Well anyway, this is why Bisharp is here. We had originally planned on her staying behind to keep an eye on the situation in the capitol, but if we split up, it would raise too many questions. So we're planning on traveling to Dargan and meeting her there instead and hiding her in the Mirror Palace before finding an escort across the border."

"Going to be difficult." Audino said. "Though I assume that's to try to avoid the higher security? She's as good as dead if they catch her of all people crossing their border, you know that. And taking her into one of Xerxes castles right under his nose will be no easy feat."

Faris laughed. "Xerxes? He's on another of those 'hunting trips' with Houndoom. Not that any of the guards don't know what he's really doing. Building up an army of pokemon. Soon the Alphas will be considered a higher authority among pokemon and none of the wild pokemon will have any choice but to do whatever they say."

"Not that I will ever go along with that!" Audino said. "I'd rather die than follow them!"

"So there's a lot of unrest right now." Lucario said, much to Faris's surprise since he hadn't heard Lucario talk until then. "I don't like Xerxes much myself. You know he's not exactly who you might think he is."

"You know." Bisharp took a drink of her apple juice and said no more.

"How strange." Faris said. "Your name is Lucario, yes?"

Lucario nodded, wondering what that had to do with anything.

"Then you know Destiny, don't you?" A sudden twitch of Lucario's ears at her name told him that he was right. "She's mentioned you once before in an undertone. Only the name though. I didn't know what Lucario was, though I assumed it must be a pokemon's name, even if it wasn't one I had ever heard before."

"Do you know where she is?" Lucario asked.

"Hang on a second." Audino said. "You said you came here searching for a friend of yours. It wasn't her, was it?"

Lucario nodded. "She prefers the name Aamira."

Faris, who had had some doubts before, managed to smile when he said this. Apparently no one who she didn't trust would know this. "She's in Dargan right now. She was the one I was talking about before. How exactly do you know her though? She's insisted ever since she returned home that she couldn't remember anything."

"I've heard that there was a human child who was supposedly kidnapped from the capitol four years ago." Lucario said. "That was her, wasn't it? I met her four years ago and saved her from a group of vicious pokemon that was chasing her. We got separated for a while, but we were eventually reunited. Around two years ago, she decided to go back home."

"The dates match up fairly well." Faris said. "It was true she disappeared four years ago and reappeared two years ago. She was just found laying in her bed one morning as if she had just been asleep that whole time. It didn't look like she had aged a day since she had vanished. Apparently, she couldn't remember anything. Word had spread fairly quickly that she had returned, but Xerxes made sure it was hushed up. We had to tell everyone that it had been a mistaken identity. He said it was because her amnesia made her easy to manipulate and he wanted to keep her safe until he could find a way to restore her memory."

"What happened then?" Lucario asked.

"He kept me away. As the captain of the guard, anything I said would spread quickly. Of course, I didn't realize what he was doing at first. Around a year after she had returned, Xerxes summoned me to the throne room and questioned me on my loyalty. I assured him that I was entirely devoted to him, just as I had always been to the royal family. At the time, it was true. After that though, he showed me what he really was. I could hardly believe it. The king of Dellevis was a pokemon! Even so, I continued to follow blindly.

"Sometime after that, I was asked to guard the study that he apparently used in private lessons to try to restore Aamira's memory. Afterwards, I was asked to escort her back to her room. Something wasn't right. The whites of her eyes looked red as though she had been swimming in ocean water with her eyes opened. I had a brief glimpse of the study before the door was closed. The only thing I saw in there was an old antique mirror. Of course, I tried to deny that anything was wrong at first. I convinced myself that there had been a large number of books piled up behind the door that I hadn't seen."

"And where would you be without me?" Bisharp asked. "He told me about this, of course, before tricking himself into thinking it was all his imagination. I started doing some investigating of my own. On one day when the guard was somewhat scarce because of the upcoming Festival of Storms, I volunteered to guard Aamira personally so that Faris could guard Xerxes. When she was a child, I had spent some time playing with her on similar occasions, although she couldn't understand anything I said to her. Either way, I thought I'd try to see if she could remember that. To my surprise, she could understand me.

"At first I thought that I had suddenly become a pokemon that all humans could here, though it's normally that a pokemon can be heard from the time they're born. Apparently, it was something even stranger. She could understand all pokemon. She made me promise not to tell Xerxes or my partner, since she didn't trust him at the time. After that she told me everything that had happened. A seal had been placed on her memory to keep her from saying anything that had happened from the years she was gone. Xerxes had been able to break it almost as soon as she had reappeared. All of those lessons he was apparently helping her with were really interrogations using the Reflecting Mirror.

"That mirror is an old Aura Reader's artifact that was used sparingly. If anyone other than an Aura Reader looked in it, they would go blind instantly and painfully. Although Aura Readers can look into it without going blind, it causes them as much pain as anyone else, especially if forced to look into it. This is why it was used so sparingly. Aura Reader abilities can't normally be focused to find specific information. The Reflecting Mirror was created to focus it."

"What information was he after?" Lucario asked.

"I don't know." Bisharp said. "All I know is that he was looking for something extremely important and that he was using the mirror both as a method of finding that something and as a method of interrogation to get information on where Aamira had been after she disappeared."

"I witnessed it one time." Faris said. "There was something that urgently needed Xerxes' attention, so I interrupted them. If I hadn't assured him of my loyalty, I doubt I would have left that room alive. I lingered for a while. That's when I heard her mention her name. After that, she said something really peculiar. She said 'the moon is red'. Aamira was born on the night of a partial lunar eclipse, so the moon at the time had been red. This was something that she had never been told. On top of that, she did truly have amnesia, just a few years earlier than we first thought. Xerxes seemed excited that she had finally started to speak. I finally realized what was happening and when Bisharp told me what Aamira had told her, I knew we had to do something."

"I started passing messages between her and Faris." Bisharp said. "For one who was once such a timid child, I was extremely impressed by her bravery. She never brooded over her imprisonment, as we now knew it to be, and even took on a role as a spy of sorts. She looked into the mirror whenever asked, looked for what Xerxes wanted to know, but never told him a word. After persisting all alone for over a year, her willpower did start to wane, as it would with anyone. She let a little information slip about where she had been during those two years and decided that it was getting too dangerous to stay there. We organized an escape and put it into action. We led the human guards off of her trail, but the Alphas were after her soon enough. We don't know what happened after that, but she's been sending messages to us regularly, assuring us that she would tell us more once we had the chance to rendezvous. That's what we're attempting to do now."

"Well, I'm coming with you." Lucario said. "I can hardly believe that for most of the past two years, she's been practically tortured for information."

"Understandable." Faris said. "If you insist on coming along, that's fine. We could probably use an extra set of eyes."

"I can do more than that." Lucario said. "I can see a person's aura and sense people approaching even in total darkness or through solid walls. As long as there's none of that Leuminite in the way."

"Leuminite is fairly rare." Faris said. "In its pure form, it can be used to strengthen a pokemon. In its impure form, it's toxic to humans when it's unrefined, and when smelted, it can be used as a sort of dampener to keep a pokemon from using their abilities. If Xerxes did find a large vein of it, like we suspect he might have, he only would have given to the Alphas to use. Regular guards shouldn't be a problem."

"Looks like we've found a good ally." Bisharp got up and walked outside. "I'll be waiting out here for when you're ready to leave."

Faris sighed. "I guess that's just a Bisharp's nature, but she's always been so hasty."

"Why is Xerxes so determined to find Aamira? Why not use another Aura Reader?"

Faris considered her question for a moment. Lucario wondered if he had said something he should have. "Because Aamira's the only one."

They left some time later, after Audino had assured Lucario that he could come back any time he wanted, and headed northeast through the mountains. As they traveled, Lucario started to notice more and more villages in the distance, though Faris said it would be best to avoid contact with anyone until getting to Hearthlan, a small village near the country's border. It got steadily colder as they went. Lucario was fine because of his fur, but he wondered how a human could stand such cold weather.

After a while of traveling through the freezing mountains and through the few inches of snow, Lucario was starting to wonder how a pokemon would be able to stand it either. He had been to Glacies before, but it hadn't even been this cold there in winter. His paws felt like they were starting to freeze by the time they finally reached the village.

The village was inside of a low valley on the edge of the mountain range just north of a taiga that stretched towards the south. Lucario assumed that at their altitude, it was sure to be warmer down there. All of the buildings had at least one smoking chimney. One large building near the center of the city seemed to have at least ten. Lucario started walking towards the city gratefully, but Faris stopped him and pointed out a few people walking around the streets, who all had armor similar to his.

"Dellevan guards." Bisharp said. "What are they doing here?"

"I don't know, but they're sure to recognize us if we come close." Faris took off the little armor that he wore and anything that had the red and tin that the other soldiers wore. The clothes he wore underneath his uniform were so plain that no one would ever suspect he was a guard without it. "We'll need a change of plans. Bisharp, I'll need you to take my uniform and hide it somewhere. I doubt they'd recognize me without it, but they're sure to if they recognize you. I'll take Lucario with me instead." Faris turned to Lucario. "It's very important that you don't speak to anyone. It's unusual enough that a pokemon would be able to speak, but as long as they don't hear your voice, no one will be suspicious. It's so rare for a human and partner to be the same gender that no one will look twice in our direction as long as you don't speak."

"So I should pretend to be your partner?" Lucario asked. "What if a pokemon talks to me?"

"Don't speak to them either. If you do, they're sure to tell their partners that something unusual is going on. There's no way to tell for sure if a pokemon is wild or not either, so don't risk it."

Lucario nodded and followed him down the side of the mountain. The multiple layers of clothing explained why Faris hadn't been cold before, but now he was shivering a lot more without all of his heavier clothing.

"Most clothing in Dellevis is made from Spinarak silk, which is not only a terrible insulator, but gets cold really easily." He explained. "The main parts of the uniform are made from Flaffy wool, which is one of the best insulators and is popular all over the world."

Lucario remembered what the shepherd Morrigan had told him about raising Mareep and Flaffy for their wool. If it wasn't for shepherds, Lucario could see where there could be trouble between humans and these species of pokemon, especially if their wool was as popular as Faris said. While thinking about this, Lucario came to a sudden realization; he had lost the pendant Morrigan had given him. Lucario growled quietly with frustration, knowing that it would be nearly impossible to find the place where he had hidden it again. Faris had apparently interpreted this as shivering, because he didn't ask any questions.

As Lucario had hoped and expected, it had gotten noticeably warmer as they descended. There were a few places in the streets where there was little to no snow and all of the humans living in the area were wearing clothes thinner than what Lucario would have expected. Faris explained that their clothes were actually made from Bouffalant fur, which was extremely rare except in the far northern regions, but much warmer than even Flaffy wool. By this point, they were deeper into the city, so Lucario didn't risk asking any more questions.

Up ahead, they heard someone shouting angrily. Lucario assumed it was because of his instincts as a guard, but in spite of them supposedly not trying to draw any attention to themselves Faris ran ahead to see what was happening. In the middle of the street, there was a kid laying on the ground with a Dellevan guard standing over him.

Faris walked towards them at a brisk pace, which was admittedly a little intimidating. "What's going on here?"

"You're from Dellevis, aren't you?" The guard asked. "Probably a trader or something. It doesn't matter, this is none of your business. I caught this kid trying to steal from me."

"Stealing?" Faris glanced down at the kid, who was staring at him wide eyed. "And what would he be stealing?"

"A locket that my wife gave me back before we were married." The guard said simply.

"That's a lie!" The kid shouted angrily. "It was my mom's! You just wanted to steal it to sell to get a night at the inn! Well good luck, because my aunt owns that inn!"

"Hey, you know I do everything I can to protect you and everyone else back home." The guard said to Faris. "If you don't want any trouble, I suggest you move along."

Faris laughed. "Move along? Don't talk to me like some sort of inferior being! Don't the taxes I pay provide you with food and enough money for situations like this? I'll have you know, that as a citizen of Dellevis, I have every right to go straight to the king and report you for this! Picking on a kid from another country while visiting that country… if a war breaks out from this, it's on your head. I'm sure His Majesty would love to know the one who caused it!"

Apparently people openly mentioning the king so often wasn't very usual, because the guard backed off and through the locket on the ground next to the kid. "Fine, take your ugly necklace!"

The kid grabbed the locket and put it back around his neck, hiding it under his shirt as if scared that someone else would try to steal it immediately after getting it back. "Thank you for the help, mister. Is there anything I could do to repay you for this?"

"You said your aunt owned the inn, right?" Faris asked. "Would you mind taking us there?"

The human boy, who had introduced himself as Felix, was happy to escort them to the inn. He seemed a little relieved to be traveling with a strong person who wasn't afraid to stand up to the guards too. He told them that he didn't like the guards at all, not that anyone was entirely thrilled that they were staying there, and said that he'd try to get his aunt to give them a room to stay in for free that night. If all of the rooms were taken, he would have them stay at their house.

The inn had been the building with all of the chimneys that Lucario had seen when first approaching the city. There was a wooden sign hanging near the double wooden doors that had the words "Cinccino's Hearth" engraved into it. The main floor looked more like a restaurant than anything. There was a strong smell of hot chocolate and cooking soup. There was a human lady standing behind the counter talking with a fluffy white pokemon. After a second, the pokemon nodded and ran up the stairs.

Felix walked up to the lady, who Lucario assumed was his aunt, and brought her over to them after telling her what had happened.

"So you saved my little Felix from that ruffian?" She asked. She was bigger than most humans that Lucario had seen so far and looked strong and somewhat intimidating, though not unkindly. He had the feeling that if she had seen that guard bullying her nephew that the guard would have gone running back to Dellevis. "I really should thank you. He's been terrified of Dellevan guards ever since he was young. My name is Maura. I would be glad to give you a room tonight, free of charge, of course." She turned back to Felix. "Would you mind going to clean out the fireplace in room three? Chris has been working on that one for a while now and could probably use a break. That room's last occupants loved the fireplace but hated to clean it."

"I got it." Felix walked off towards the stairs and disappeared upstairs.

"That poor child." Maura said. "Well never mind that, I'm sure the two of you could use some nice hot chocolate after being out in the snow all day? How about it?"

Lucario had never had hot chocolate before, but it smelled good and Maura was looking right at him, so he nodded.

"My partner doesn't talk much, even to me." Faris explained.

"Yes, I understand." Maura said as she led them to an unoccupied table. "Felix's partner is the same way. She's a Sneasel who has earned the unfortunate nickname, 'Silent' from most of the town, including Felix. She has a knack for thievery and Felix has a knack for trouble. They're not a bad pair, though they can be a handful sometimes. Now my little Cinccino, he's a talker. Always has been. Really hyper and always monologues everything he does as he cleans."

"Having a Cinccino for a partner must come in handy." Faris said. "Free housework and no need to worry about grooming. They're pretty rare though, aren't they? Especially males. You're pretty lucky."

"Yes, I suppose." Though really she sounded more tired when thinking about how much her partner loved to talk. "Well, I'll go get that hot chocolate ready."

While Maura was bringing them their hot chocolate, Lucario watched as another human boy came down the stairs with Felix. While most of the people he had seen so far in the village, aside from the guards, had dark skin, this human really stood out. His skin was the palest he had seen of any human, to the point where it almost looked unhealthy. It contrasted almost perfectly with Felix's skin, which was almost as dark as Darkrai. He wondered what this human, who looked so out of place, was doing here.

"Who's that kid over there?" Faris asked. He had apparently noticed him too and had been thinking along the same lines as Lucario. "I've been here before, usually during the spring with the other traders, and I've never seen him around."

"Oh, a trader." Maura said. "I thought you looked familiar. I can never remember every face I meet. If you came last spring, you would have just missed him. He showed up right after the traders left. At first we thought that he had been left behind by accident, but Felix said that he never saw him before. Now Felix really can remember every face he's ever met, so I had to take his word on it."

"So how did he get here?" Faris asked.

"Not entirely sure." Maura said. "Felix had gone out in the woods to play with Silent one day and when she was sniffing around for some acorns to eat, she found him face down in the snow with a Staraptor standing guard nearby. They thought that Staraptor was his partner, but it flew away when they got close. If it wasn't wild, it wouldn't have done that, would it? His back looked like it had been torn up by a set of claws. Felix took him to the town's doctor and he patched him up. Turns out, he can't remember a thing though. When he woke up, all he could tell us was that his name was Chris. Couldn't tell us where he came from, just that the Staraptor had rescued him after being attacked by a Fearow. I let him stay with us and work for his meals, just like with Felix."

"Work for their meals?" Faris asked. "That's a little much, don't you think?"

"I don't get as much money as you might think." Maura said. "If I paid them, they'd have to spend it all on food anyway."

At that moment, Chris was standing behind the counter and talking to Felix. He seemed pretty annoyed about something. Lucario assumed that he was talking about the fireplace that they had been cleaning, since he had started to ruffle his hair, which a bunch of ash had fallen out of. His hair seemed to be dark grey, but Lucario wondered what color it would look like if it hadn't been covered in soot. Felix started laughing when Chris patted his hair and a plume of ash came out of it.

"Chris!" Maura shouted at him. "If you want to get that ash out, then go outside and wash up! Don't do that in here where people are eating!"

She went to get the broom and Chris immediately ran for the door with Felix close by, apparently afraid she would hit them over the heads with it. Instead, she just proceeded to sweep up the mess they had made with the ash.

Lucario suppressed a laugh and tried the hot chocolate for the first time. Even considering all of the food that Audino had made, he had to say this was probably his favorite thing so far. It was hot and sweet at the same time, perfect for the cold snowy weather that they had been stuck in for the last few hours.

A while later, Chris and Felix came back inside, both wet and shivering. Lucario assumed that they had both washed the soot out of their hair in a barrel full of water that he had noticed on the way in. Now that the soot was gone, Chris looked even paler than before and his hair was the same hue as the snow outside, looking even brighter with the black headband that he was wearing.

"I really do feel sorry for him." A man sitting at the table next to their said. "He's always going around causing trouble with Felix and Silent. He might be a little easy to manipulate with his amnesia, but Felix is the closest thing he has to a friend."

"He doesn't have a partner?" Faris asked.

The man got up and joined them at their table. There was a small bug pokemon sleeping inside of his jacket with half of a leaf hanging out from its mouth. It seemed to have fallen asleep while eating.

"She doesn't like cold weather." He explained. "Falls asleep the second the temperature rises. But to answer your question, it doesn't seem like he does have a partner. If he does, he obviously can't remember who it is. I've noticed a Mienshao patrolling the city ever since he showed up, usually keeping an eye on him and Felix. I thought it could be that Mienshao, but after a while I realized that one was a male. No way it could be his partner, right? No, looks like a deserter, if you ask me."

"Ah…" Faris said in a grave voice. Lucario didn't know what a deserter was, but he guessed it was nothing good. "Could be they were just separated."

The man nodded. "True, true. If so, it's not making a lot of effort to find him, is it?"

"I suppose not." Faris said. "If he's really been here for half a year with no sign of his partner. Sorry, I didn't catch your name, stranger."

"Ah, I'm no one worth remembering." He said. "Just a friend of a friend, you know."

Faris nodded as if this made sense, but Lucario noticed that the edge of his lip twitched as if he were suppressing a smile. Faris tried to hide this by taking another drink of his hot chocolate.

"Hey, Chris!" The man shouted. "How about some of that soup when it's done? And some for my friend here too. I'll pay for it."

"Sure thing!" Chris shouted back at them. He was about to turn away when he noticed Lucario. "Oh, and what about your partner? If it likes sour food, the Aspear berries are in season right now. Really great for eating after walking through the snow, even if the skin is a little hard to bite through."

"Yea, why not?" Faris said.

Something about this seemed to stir something in Lucario's memory, though he wasn't quite sure what it was. Most likely something from a fleeting conversation. Probably not very important.

"So what are you doing this far to the northeast? You're Dellevan, right? I just assumed since you came around the same time as all of these guards."

"Yea, though I'm not associated with the guards." Faris said. "I came here on my own to visit a friend who lives farther north. Normally I only visit in the spring when I have the money to travel, but she's just had her baby and both of them have become really sick."

"Ah, that's terrible." The stranger said.

Faris nodded. "I don't really have the money to be doing this. I hate to admit it, but I was really fortunate to have met you. Haven't eaten at all in the last two days. Luckily I was given a room here for free, but I wouldn't want to be stealing all of Maura's food as well. I know money is tight around here in the winter. I just wish there was an easy way to make a little money so we can go the rest of the way with a little more comfort."

He had said this just as Chris was returning with their soup and Aspear berries.

"I might know a way you can make some extra money, if you're willing to take a few chances." Chris said.

"What kind of chances?" Faris asked. "Nothing illegal, I hope?"

Chris laughed. His voice sounded strangely higher pitched than it did when he spoke normally. "No, nothing like that. Just that it might be trouble if you don't do it by tonight. I'm sure you noticed the clouds outside."

Lucario looked out of a nearby window and noticed that there had in fact been some grey snow clouds gathering.

"See, around this time of year, the fish that live in the rivers up in the mountains tend to migrate to the warmer waters down stream. They like the cold climate, but can't swim in water that's frozen completely. There's an area in the forest just south of here where two rivers join and the different currents confuse them. They often get stuck and crowd the river around there. I've noticed it a few times when playing with Felix and his Sneasel out in the forest. We're not fast enough to catch them, but if you can I'm sure you'll get a good price for them."

"Ah, I see." Faris said. "And you said before tomorrow, or we'll get caught in the storm?"

Chris nodded and looked out the window. "Looks like a bad one. I could always tell somehow. It might be too dark to see what you're doing though. With a storm this bad coming, it would probably block out the moon and stars completely."

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem." Faris said. "Alright, I'll think about it. Thanks for the help."

As Chris turned away, his eyes lingered on Lucario for a second. Lucario had seen several humans with red eyes up until then, so hadn't thought much about it before. In that moment though, he realized why this human had caught his attention. It had been so long ago that he didn't remember that Aamira's skin had been equally pale. Her hair had been longer back then, and her eyes had of course been a different color. He looked down at the Aspear berries and suddenly remembered. Either Quill or Aamira, he couldn't remember which, had mentioned that she had been given Aspear berries in an attempt to help her memory when she first appeared in Vine city. She was even now pretending to have lost her memory. Why hadn't Lucario seen it before?

After they had finished eating and talking with their new friend, Faris said that they would try fishing as Chris had suggested and the two of them left. Lucario felt like he could breathe easily again once he was outside of the city and able to speak.

"That was her, wasn't it?" Lucario asked. "She's pretending to be a boy so no one recognizes her."

Faris nodded. "My idea, actually. Well, not entirely. When she was younger, she used to dress up as a boy and sneak out so she could play with her friends without anyone knowing. I thought that if it worked once, it would work again. Before she had just hidden her hair underneath an old hat, but I guess it would be too difficult to get away with this time, needing to hide her identity in all hours of the day and night. That doctor that Maura mentioned must have found out right away. We really owe them for not giving her away instantly.

"You mentioned a deserter earlier." Lucario said. "What is it exactly?"

Faris suddenly turned grave again. "No human is born without a pokemon partner. That doesn't mean that every pokemon wants to have a human partner. Sometimes, they'll do everything in their power to avoid meeting their partner. Some think that having a human partner would make them weak, because they feel that they would have to spend all of their time protecting their partner. Others are scared of what will happen if they're unable to protect their partner. They abandon their partner completely, or at least attempt to, hence the name, deserter."

"What do you mean they attempt to?" Lucario asked.

"Pokemon and humans are always drawn to their partner, even if they don't want to be. For Aamira, that's what she's always wanted more than anything. She's considered an adult now, though she doesn't look it. Before now, I've never heard of a pokemon not finding their way to their partner before they become adults. That's how a rumor started that Aamira might be the only human without a partner."

It did make sense. Aamira was a human-born pokemon. She might have been born a human, but she was supposed to have been born a pokemon. Couldn't something like that make it impossible for her to have a partner?

Up at the river, Lucario was in for a surprise. Standing on the bank of the river was a familiar looking Quilava carrying an Investigation Team's bag.

"Quill!" Lucario said.

"Lucario!" the fire flared up on Quill's neck and back and he got down onto all fours

"Hey, easy!" Faris said. "I'm not going to hurt anyone. In fact, I'm here to help at Aamira's request." Lucario had been sure that Quill had been about to attack him. Now he realized how it probably looked, just walking into the clearing, walking in front of a human that he didn't know. It probably looked like Faris had taken him hostage.

"Prove it!" Quill said.

"You must have seen some terrible things to be so untrusting." Faris said. "The only thing I can offer as proof is Aamira's word once she gets here. I helped her escape if that counts for something."

"But she's not meeting us here." Quill said. "Wouldn't she have sent you a message or something telling you that?"

"We met her in person." Lucario explained. "She was in disguise so she couldn't speak to us directly, but she managed to tell us to come here."

"And a good thing she did too!" they turned to the sound of the voice, Quill still ready for a battle, and saw a purple and white pokemon with long whiskers and long fur on his arms. He jumped across the stones that were sticking out of the water and landed in front of them, shaking with pain. "These old bones of mine…" he grumbled. " 'Meet them by the river' she says. Can't even bother to say which side…"

"Who are you?" Faris asked. Apparently he could understand this pokemon

"Mienshao. Don't ask any more questions. Aamira's waiting for you in a cave near here with Victini. There was a bit of a situation. Well, follow me."

Quill was staring at him suspiciously, but Mienshao was only staring at Lucario for some reason.

"You there. Turn around for a second."

"What?" Lucario would have questioned Mienshao on this further, but he seemed really serious and didn't seem to be in a very good mood, so rather than argue and start a fight, Lucario turned around without protest.

He heard something that sounded like the crack of a whip, followed by a simultaneous sharp pain in the back of his neck and a small popping noise. Lucario turned, about to counterattack, if it had in fact been an attack, only to see Mienshao pointing at something on the ground.

Lucario had seen something like this before. It looked like the same tracking device that Mismagius had once used to track Aamira back to their hideout. Lucario remembered when Zoroark had pounced on him and knocked him to the ground. His claws had been right next to his neck at the time. Lucario had taken this as a threat, but now he realized that it was most likely to place this tracking device. No wonder he had been so willing to let Lucario escape.

"You know what that is, don't you?" Mienshao asked. "Did you have that placed on you on purpose."

"No, I had no idea it was there!" Lucario said honestly.

Mienshao glared at Lucario suspiciously for a moment, but for whatever reason decided not to press the subject. "Well if you're sure, follow me."

Mienshao walked on ahead of them. Quill followed after immediately, but after what had just happened, Lucario was a little hesitant. Only after Faris had gone on ahead was he a little more willing to follow. After all, they were going to see Aamira. At least then they would be able to get some answers as to what was going on.


	5. Chapter 5 Behind the Waterfall

Finding out about the tracking device restored some of Quill's confidence in Lucario. If he had become an enemy, he wouldn't have had a tracking device attached to him. Had he been a traitor, he would have tried to lead them into a trap instead of just leading other enemies to them.

As for what Mienshao had said about their being a situation… What exactly did that mean? Aamira was waiting for them, so obviously nothing too bad had happened. Even so, was she alright? Of course he came to this world in order to rescue Daisy. Now he had two sisters he had to worry about.

The trees gradually started to thin and the branch of the river to their left that they had been following gradually became fast flowing. The ground started to slope and there was less and less snow. Eventually they came to a sudden drop where the river turned into a good sized waterfall.

"Down here." Mienshao jumped onto a series of different sized rocks that led down the waterfall. They assumed there must have been a cave behind the waterfall somewhere, since he disappeared behind the foam seconds later.

Normally Quill would have had problems with this, being a fire type. Luckily being a flexible Quilava and having been raised climbing the massive and sometimes mossy and slippery trees of Sylva, Quill had an easier time of it than most other fire types. It also helped that he didn't have a constant external flame that he would risk extinguishing, like a Charmeleon's flame on its tail. Lucario was, of course, able to climb down easily. His species was most adept at traveling through mountainous areas, so jumping from stone to stone was second nature. Quill had also heard a rumor that to focus their concentration and their control over aura, they also spent times sitting underneath waterfalls. Much of the secret training methods of Lucario and Riolu were extremely obscure though, so he didn't know if there was anything behind this.

Unfortunately, this human that Lucario had picked up somewhere didn't seem to be as adept at climbing in these unfavorable conditions. Though still somewhat wary, Quill couldn't help worrying that he would slip and hit the large rocks below. The entire time they descended, Quill made sure to keep one stone behind him in case he did lose his footing, which seemed even more likely when Quill noticed how badly he was shaking and how hesitant he was to take his hands off of the cliff face, even though it was so slippery from the water that holding on to it wasn't likely to do much more than scrape his hands up when he fell.

He seemed to become more confident when they finally found their way under the waterfall and noticed the cave several yards above them. Just as he was stepping onto the last stone to pull himself up into the cave, his shoe slipped and he ended up hanging on by the ends of his fingers. It figured that he would have to slip here. Had he slipped anywhere else, Quill would have been able to jump over to him and pull him up. In this place though, the only way Quill would be able to do that would be to climb up his back into the cave and pull him up, which just put both of them in danger of falling.

Luckily help came only seconds later. Victini emerged from the cave and perched on the human's shoulder. At first, Quill thought that Victini would somehow be able to carry this human many times his size over the edge of the cliff. Just as Victini had landed on his shoulder though, he seemed to find some sort of extra strength and pulled himself up into the cave using just the tips of his fingers. Quill gave a little sigh of relief and followed after without difficulty.

Normally, he would have stopped to make sure the human was okay, but as he entered the cave, someone else caught his eye. Sitting near the back of the small cave was a human child, Quill couldn't guess the age of humans just yet, watching them all with a blank expression. She was wearing the same green and brown jacket with the furry ruff around the collar as every other human that Quill had observed in the area had been wearing. It looked like everything she wore underneath it was some sort of thick black leather. The most interesting thing was a sort of pendant she wore around her neck. The chain was plain, but attached to the end was a small black sphere that seemed to somehow be aware of their presence. Quill didn't know what it was exactly, but he couldn't help thinking that it was just like Aamira to be carrying around something that seemed to be alive in such a manner. Even without the small black sphere, Quill could have recognized her in a group of hundreds of humans, even though he had no idea what she looked like up until then.

"Hello, Quill." She said with a small smile. Quill was so glad to see her that he ran towards her, unable to contain his happiness, but stopped when she flinched back. He noticed that she was holding one foot up against a rock in a peculiar way. "It's not serious; just a sprain. I avoided the guards, but at the last minute slipped on a rock outside of the cave here."

"It took you long enough to get here." In the corner, Bisharp was standing leaning against the wall next to Mienshao who was rubbing his knees and wincing in pain.

"Our guide was on the wrong side of the river." Faris said to her. Bisharp chuckled, but Mienshao didn't seem too amused.

Faris knew that everyone else wanted to talk to Aamira, but he felt that it was, in a way, his job to approach her first and make sure she was okay. He walked up to her and knelt down next to her. Her ankle didn't seem to be too badly hurt, but he could be wrong. "Are you sure you're alright, Princess?"

What Faris had said didn't entirely register with Quill or Lucario at first since they had been expecting this least out of anything. All they noticed was a familiar angry flicker in her eyes.

"How many times have I told you," she began in a low irritable voice. 'not to speak to me as if I'm a child and NOT to call me Princess?"

"Forty-six" Bisharp said absentmindedly and she sharpened one of her blades against the stone wall of the cave.

"H-Hang on…" Quill said, summoning his courage. "Aamira, you're… You're actually a princess?"

Aamira turned away and blushed so deeply that her skin was no longer the unhealthy pale color it had been before. "If either of you want to laugh, just go ahead and get it over with, okay?"

Lucario did laugh slightly, though it had nothing to do with her being royalty. "That's really the way you speak after telling someone not to treat you like a child?" Aamira didn't even look in his direction. He thought it best not to speak if he could help it until Aamira started to forgive him.

"I think more than anything we just didn't expect it." Quill said. "It seems like most people we become friends with are some sort of outlaws the first time we meet them. You've always seemed to get along with them well in the beginning. I don't know, I always kind of pictured you sneaking around your home city by night and stealing from rich merchants or something."

"Not too far off actually. Her and her friends were always getting into trouble. Xerxes was always extremely overprotective for obvious reasons. She ended up becoming more rebellious with age. It seems like I spent half of her childhood trying to find her every night after she somehow managed to sneak out. Never could, of course."

"Wait, hold on a second!" Lucario said. "If you're the princess, then Xerxes is your—."

A quick glance from Aamira cut him off mid-sentence. "Maybe you haven't realized, but this is my world. You don't have any right interfering with anything that happens here. If you have any issues with anything that's going on, you can just leave right now!" Lucario didn't reply. He didn't think Aamira was talking like a child anymore.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence where the only sound was of Bisharp sharpening her blades, Victini finally spoke. "So Quill, you remember when I said my partner had asked me to watch over Aamira for her? Well my partner was actually the former queen. Aamira's mom, in other words."

"Wait, the former queen?" Quill asked. "So did that Xerxes take over completely or—"

"She's dead." Aamira said simply.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Quill said. "I… I didn't mean to…"

Finally, Aamira turned back to face them, but she would only look at Quill. "It's okay. She died almost immediately after I was born. I never really knew her. Maybe that dream I had was an old subconscious memory that resurfaced, but it was most likely of the only time I ever actually saw her."

"You look a lot like her when she was younger." Victini was swaying back and forth in the air, apparently enjoying a particular memory from when his partner was younger. "Especially now that your eyes changed color. I used to call her Annie all the time just to get on her nerves. 'It's Anima!' Heh, it's easy to see where you get your temper from…"

"You two were always such trouble makers." Faris said. "I was only two years older than her, so I can remember all of the trouble you two used to get in. Remember what happened during her crowning ceremony?"

"What happened?" Aamira asked with obvious interest. Lucario and Quill realized that this was probably the first time she would ever hear a story about her mother since she lost her memory.

"Anima and Victini were amazing partners, and an unusual pair too. Normally the pokemon has already been born by the time the human partner is born. Not in this case though. Anima was out in the forest picking herbs with the physician and an egg fell right out of the sky and landed in her basket. Luckily, she had collected so many herbs that it broke the egg's fall and there wasn't any damage done to it. Well her parents decided to let her hatch the egg, thinking that she needed to have a pokemon friend until she found her partner.

"I remember on the day when my father, the former captain of the guard, brought me to the king and queen to give a report on the progress of my training, she came running in all excited shouting, 'It's hatching! It's hatching!' The king stood up and let her put the egg on his throne so they could watch it hatch. Once Victini hatched, it stared blankly up at Anima for a second before its expression changed into one of some sort of sudden understanding. His eyes got really wide and he shouted 'Ooooh!' louder than any baby should have been capable and gave a little flutter of his wings that were just little stubs at the time. Anima's eyes lit up as if someone had lit a candle and they were never seen without the other since.

"On her fifteenth birthday, which is the day that it's traditional for the heir both to marry and to be crowned as the next ruler, they had their first major argument. Victini didn't like the person that she was marrying. Jealous more than anything, I'd say." Victini ignored this comment. "There had never been a greater couple, I'd say. He won Victini over in the end, of course, and the two of them got married. Immediately after, there was the crowning ceremony. As the next ruler, Anima had to make more vows than her new husband did and Victini had never been the patient type. When she had finally finished making all of the vows to the kingdom, people started asking for a speech. This was more than Victini could take." Faris gave a small chuckle. "It's tradition for the captain of the guard to present the crown to the new rulers, meaning that the task fell to my father. Well, when everyone started to ask for Anima to give a speech, Victini flew up to my father, snatched the crown out of his hands, and put it on her head lopsided so that one eye was covered by it.

"Everyone went silent for a moment, then the new king started to laugh. Anima always had a good sense of humor and soon joined him. Soon the whole hall was laughing and Victini blushed so much that his ears started glowing orange. He hid behind Anima's throne and everyone started to laugh even more. It was how the apparent greatest queen of Dellevis got her start. If anyone mentions her nowadays, they're most likely to bring up the incident at the crowning ceremony."

"So she didn't marry the current king?" Quill asked. "How did he become king?"

"Through masterful deception that puts both Mismagius and Mew to shame." Aamira said.

"What happened?" Quill asked.

Aamira didn't seem to be in the mood to talk about this, but a glance towards Faris said that she didn't mind if he told them, so he started the explanation. "Anima's first husband, Tobias, was always open to trusting anyone. That's how he won Victini over so easily. Well, you can bet he was devastated when a stranger showed up claiming to be a rebel of an army that was approaching the shores. He claimed that he was framed for treason and thrown overboard the ship along with his partner, but that he was rescued and brought to shore ahead of the army by a huge water pokemon. After his loyalty had been questioned so suddenly, he asked for an audience with the king and queen to warn them. Anima was skeptic, but Tobias thought that it was worth investigating.

"Some flying type pokemon were sent out to investigate on orders to sink the ships if the reports were true. Sure enough, they had been. All of the ships were destroyed and sent sinking to the bottom of the sea before they could even begin a counter attack. The stranger was hailed as a hero for protecting Dellevis from losing even a single life to a sudden attack, though it was never known where the army had come from. Neltona was suspected, of course, but as much of their country that borders the water is on high cliffs, it's less than ideal for a sea attack.

"Having nowhere to go, he was allowed to stay at the castle. Every now and then there would be various problems that cropped up that he had helped to fix. Before long, he was made the first council member, which is the leader of the council. Anima agreed only because her citizens seemed to like him, though she was still suspicious. Her suspicions of their new ally were well known, however, and people started to lose favor of her because of this.

"What happened next was a tragedy that no one could have seen coming. Tobias fell suddenly ill and no one knew what the cause was. There had never been a disease seen like this before. Around the same time, several other people had contracted the same illness. The king was strong and he survived the longest out of anyone in the outbreak, but in the end he died just like all of the others.

"The kingdom was in a panic, of course. The king was dead and Anima didn't have an heir yet. The only solution to this was for her to remarry and to have a child as soon as possible. She could have chosen anyone, at least someone who she liked. The kingdom was in a panic though and if she had chosen anyone else, then there would most likely be uprisings. They never even gave her time to grieve over the loss of Tobias. The only person who she could possibly marry to keep the peace in her kingdom was Xerxes. They were married the day after Tobias's funeral and Aamira was born a few months later on the night of a partial lunar eclipse. Only a few hours later, Anima contracted the same disease that had taken Tobias's life. Having just had a baby, she was much weaker than he had been at the time, and died before the sun rose."

"Everyone thought I was a miracle." Aamira said bitterly. "They thought that they had been right in thinking that my mom should remarry as soon as possible. If I had been born any later, a lot of people think that I would have died too, ending both the royal line and the Aura Readers' family line. What fools…

"Of course, Xerxes being promoted to the first council member meant that he got to sit near the king and queen at dinner. Of course it would have been so easy for him to slip something into the king's food or drink while everyone was distracted by various conversations. To cover it up, all he had to do was poison several other people so they died too to make it look random. What are the odds that my mother would have died the exact same way soon after I was born? There's no way he could have convinced her to join him in his evil schemes, but he needed an Aura Reader. A child, on the other hand, would be easy to manipulate. I may have wised up eventually, but ever since I returned to this world, he made me regret every moment of it. As if that Reflecting Mirror wasn't bad enough, he would retell the story of how he took over Dellevis every chance he got. All I could do was sit there petrified and listen. There was no way I could fight him on my own."

"I would have thought you would at least try to, right?" Lucario asked.

"Of course I did!" Aamira shouted. "Haven't you ever wondered how Xerxes managed to tip them off on some massive army approaching the shore and why no one could ever find out what country they were from? They weren't real. They were never there. He used an illusion to make everyone think they had seen an army, when really they were just attacking empty water. I can see through illusions well enough that I know what's real and what's not, but the things he would show me if I ever tried to run or fight—"

Aamira broke off for a moment and rubbed the outside of her eyelids with her first two fingers as if suddenly in pain. "Is that how he disguises himself as a human?" Lucario asked. "He uses an illusion?"

Aamira nodded, but Quill looked shocked. "Wait, so Xerxes isn't even really a human?"

"No, he's a pokemon named Zoroark." Aamira said. "Zoroark were once widely feared by humans. Even though they were thought to all have gone extinct long ago and most people have forgotten about them by now, he wouldn't dare risk everything just to keep his name, especially since there are still stories told here in Dargan about his species. Xerxes was the name he created for this particular human persona."

"Why were Zoroark so widely feared by humans?" Lucario asked.

"Because Zoroark were carnivores. Most carnivorous pokemon are content with hunting animals, but not Zoroark. They would just as soon attack a human or even a pokemon for food or even just for fun. There were certain old horror stories about how a huge pack of them would torment humans for days with their illusions before driving them to madness and eventually killing an entire village. They would take what they needed for food, and leave everything else to rot."

"Is this Zoroark as violent as them?" Lucario asked.

"He's smarter than they were and he knows better than to just intimidate anyone as much as he wants with his illusions or ferocity. I think he is just as violent, but he does well with hiding it. There was one incident though…" Aamira untied her headband and turned so that they could see the right side of her face. Stretching from the base of her temple almost all the way to the corner of her eye were two large scars, obviously created from a set of claws. A small piece of her ear, which had also been covered with the headband, was missing.

"Funnily enough, this is how they found me." Aamira said. "Most guards would just blindly follow him, though there was one guard in Hearthlan who knew about Xerxes' true form. He knew about these scars and until he noticed, had no reason to suspect who I really was. I normally kept them hidden under this headband for this exact reason, but I thought it would be safe to take it off just for a few minutes to rinse the soot out of my hair. Felix was standing on my right, so I thought I was hidden well enough from view. Apparently not though. The one guard who saw it happened to be the one who knew I had them beforehand. I didn't know at the time. Luckily Mienshao was watching and he risked sneaking into the inn to forewarn me and I managed to avoid most of the trouble."

Lucario sighed. "Here I was worrying about my job as Atra's ambassador, and this is what you've been putting up with for the last two years? There's no way, of course, that I would ever think that you're loyal at all to Zoroark."

Aamira stared at him with no particular expression. For a moment, Lucario was worried that she would get mad at him again, though he couldn't see why she would. Eventually she extended her hand. "Shake my hand if you really mean that then."

So she forgave him? For a second, Lucario was happy, though he couldn't shake the feeling that something was weird about this. Then he understood; she just wanted him to give her soul back in an inconspicuous way. He wondered if she didn't trust Faris enough to tell him about this, but decided that it wasn't any of his business to question the loyalty of Aamira's friends; that would probably be just as bad as questioning Aamira's loyalty directly.

Lucario didn't like how evasive she was being, but at least this way he would be finishing the mission he was sent to this world for. He took her hand with his own that he was holding her soul in and it immediately disappeared into her palm. She stared down at her hand after they let go of each other with a momentarily confused expression before letting it fall back to her side. It took Lucario a minute to realize why she had seemed confused; Hunter had said that returning Aamira's soul would turn her back into a pokemon, and yet here she was still as a human.

"Okay, so we're all friends here." Aamira said. "So what's the plan now?"

"Well…" Quill was dreading the moment he had to tell her about Daisy. Even though it hadn't happened all that long ago, it was already a painful memory. "Espeon's egg hatched while we were in the Other world. A female Cyndaquil this time. Well, a while ago I went on a dangerous mission to fight a monster Houndoom. He said he was there looking for a specific pokemon to bring back to his partner. Daisy got worried and followed me. Apparently she was the pokemon he was looking for, though I don't see why."

"Espeon named her Daisy?" Aamira asked.

Quill nodded. "She was sure you were going to come back, so she didn't want to name her after you, so instead she named her after the Banette that you used to carry around as a doll. Anyway, the point is that Houndoom took her and I chased them here to this world, but lost them. I have to find her."

"That Cyndaquil!" Lucario said. "I saw a female Cyndaquil wearing a Joy Ribbon when I first came to this world. She was with Zoroark and Houndoom, but it didn't look like she was hurt."

Quill gave a deep sigh of relief to hear that she was okay, but Aamira suddenly seemed concerned. "Quill, did you give her your Joy Ribbon?"

"Yea, why?" he asked, suddenly concerned again.

"I tried to stay around Zoroark for as long as I could to get some information on what he was after, though I didn't find out much. At the same time I was trying to get information on him, he had been interrogating me also. He asked a lot of questions about where I had been in the years I was gone. Near the end I let it slip that there had been a Cyndaquil. When he asked for distinguishing features, I mentioned a Cyndaquil wearing a Joy Ribbon and being the only one in the forest."

"They confused her for me…?" Quill said. "Why… why did you tell them that!"

"It was fortunate I didn't tell them more than that!" Aamira shouted. "You know how whenever I used my abilities, it's sort of like I just have a random thought that I don't know the origin of and I can't keep from thinking it? It's the same situation with how he had been interrogating me, except that it took just about every bit of willpower just to keep from speaking. Of course after a year and a half I would start to weaken!"

"I'm sorry…" Quill said. He meant it too. He had been so devastated by Daisy being kidnapped that he could hardly control himself when he found out the reason why. Sure, it was partially because Aamira had told Zoroark about the Cyndaquil with a Joy Ribbon, but maybe if he had waited just a while longer to give the Joy Ribbon to her…

"I take it you won't want to leave until after his sister is rescued?" Faris asked.

Aamira nodded. "Of course! Oh, but there is one other thing I'd want to do before we start looking. The guards will most likely have left in an attempt to find me. With the waterfall outside of the cave, I don't have to worry about being tracked down by scent, so they'll most likely be out of the area by morning. That being said, I know it's risky but I want to go back to Hearthlan to say goodbye to Maura and Felix and thank them for letting me stay with them all of this time. They deserve an explanation, don't they?"

Faris was about to argue, but Bisharp stopped him before he had a chance to speak. "There's no way you'll be able to dissuade her. It should be fine as long as we scout ahead and make sure the way is clear. So tomorrow we can go back into town so she can say goodbye to her friends, then we can continue to the Mirror Palace as planned. We might pick up some information on where the Quilava's younger sister is and Aamira could hide out there until we come up with a plan to rescue her. After that's done, we can get her across the border to Neltona as planned."

"Easier said than done." He said, though he made no objections.

Faris and Lucario volunteered to sleep close to the waterfall in case anyone did find the cave, Victini had fallen asleep by the time they had finished making a plan for what they would need to do the next day, and Bisharp and Mienshao were talking over in a separate corner. That left Quill and Aamira almost entirely alone for the first time in about two years.

Aamira did want to go back to Quill's world and continue working in their Investigation team, of course. Even so, it felt like if she did go back, it would be like an entirely different world. She had disappeared for two months before and it had seemed like a lot had changed then. She couldn't imagine what his world must be like after a full two years.

"I still have the Aura Glass." Aamira told him. "It broke soon after I came back to this world, but I made sure it was never found. Usually I keep it hidden inside the music box and I hardly ever take the music box out of my knapsack."

"A lot has changed in Vine City." Quill told her. "There's a new café opening up soon. I've been trying to grow a new Treehouse so we could have a proper team base. There's no telling how long it's going to take though. Oh, we were finally added to the Hall of Fame too. We weren't added to it before because not many people knew what we were up to when working for the Investigator's Brigade. Then of course right after we were promoted to Master Rank, we were framed as criminals and there's no way they would add us to the Hall of Fame then. They waited a long time, saying they wanted you to come back before doing a team portrait. In the end, I convinced Smeargle just to copy an old picture of us from the newspaper. Of course that means I was painted as a Cyndaquil, but I kind of prefer it that way. It just doesn't feel like we've really ever worked together as a team since after I evolved, aside from when we fought Arceus and Ninetales."

Aamira decided not to mention the fact that they now had a younger sister too. She realized that Quill was having a difficult time coping with Daisy being kidnapped, though she was completely confident that they would rescue her.

"I should have turned back into a pokemon, but I haven't for some reason." Aamira said. "Do you think that things would be too different from before if I stayed a human?"

"Maybe." Quill said. "I mean, nothing would ever be different between us, I don't think. Even so, if you're a human you can't use any attacks or anything, can you? How would you be able to go through dungeons like that?"

"I hadn't thought of that." Aamira said. "I don't want to stay a human. Even so, maybe for the time being it's for the best. I have no idea what would have happened if I had suddenly turned into a Riolu right in front of Faris."

Quill was quiet for a while. He noticed that a few chunks of ice were starting to fall down the waterfall. Through a break in the water, he saw that it had started to snow really hard. Even so, the cave stayed strangely warm.

"Do you have a partner in this world?" Quill asked nervously. Victini had told him about how all humans in this world had a pokemon partner. He didn't know why, but the thought bothered him somehow.

"No." Aamira said simply. "Well I've gotten over it by now. Of course I always wonder why. Maybe it's just a human born thing. Even so… well, I guess you're close enough"

Quill gave her a light punch in the arm. Aamira laughed, remembering how he had done the same thing a few years back after she reappeared and pretended to have forgotten all about him."

"You should know, in this world that would be considered the greatest of compliments."

It just didn't seem right for some reason, that anyone would be closer with Aamira than he was. Well if it was someone he felt that he could get along with, maybe that wouldn't be the case. Quill didn't say anything more than this. He felt like he could unintentionally say something insulting if he kept going on this topic, and changing the topic of their conversation now wouldn't be easy. Soon enough, he fell into a less than restful sleep.

Aamira smiled as she watched his back rise and fall with his slow breathing. It was so strange seeing Quill again, right here in front of her. And Lucario too, for that matter, even though she wouldn't admit it. Even though she had gotten her memories back a lot sooner than she was supposed to, it still felt like it had all just been a dream up until now. Even so, with the position she was in, showing too much emotion could be dangerous in front of the wrong people. It was time that she accepted that she would probably never get the chance to act like a kid again. Most likely when Quill went back to his world, she wouldn't even be able to join him. Those were all things she could think about some other time though; for now, she could at least enjoy a good night's sleep in the company of her friends.

The next day, the waterfall had been reduced to a small trickle. The river above them was entirely frozen on the surface. This made getting out of the cave even more difficult, since the rocks were now covered in a thin layer of ice. Somehow they managed and they started heading back to the city, keeping an eye out for any guards.

Faris was now wearing the rest of his armor just in case. This was the day that he was supposed to be arriving in Hearthlan on his way to the Mirror Palace, so no guards would question seeing him around. Even so, this created another problem once they got into the city. Apparently, there had been some sort of city-wide search done by the guards in an attempt to find Aamira, and none of the people in the village were feeling particularly warm towards soldiers after having their houses ransacked.

"I don't understand, Dargan is a different country, so why don't they just use their own soldiers to chase off the ones from Dellevis?" Quill asked.

"Dargan doesn't have an army." Faris said. "Neltona tried to invade once before, but were chased out by the cold and harsh conditions alone. Being on the border, Hearthlan is relatively mild compared to the rest of the country. Aside from that, no one wants to take over a country like Dargan. It's sometimes referred to as the Vanilluxe Cone of the world because of how cold it is. I don't know how Dargonians do it, but I don't know a single other person who would want to live here full time."

Quill was about to ask what a Vanilluxe was, but they noticed a couple of people farther up the street and thought it best not to talk. Lucario had stayed outside of the city with Mienshao and Victini (since Faris was no longer in disguise, Bisharp had come with them) but even so, it wouldn't be safe to talk around humans. There could still be guards in the area, and he knew that the people of Dellevis didn't like talking pokemon.

Just that morning, Bisharp had laughed when Faris commented on how strange it was to be around so many pokemon he could understand. As far as Bisharp knew, they had just about every speaking pokemon on the continent in their group. It took her a while to remember that she wasn't one of them, since she was so used to talking to Faris.

Aamira led them back to the inn. Around the back of it, there was a small house that was entirely unnoticeable until Aamira pointed it out to them. It was two stories tall, but it as it was right up against the side of the inn, it had merely looked like an extension to it.

Aamira walked up to the door and knocked on it. She had put the headband back on so that her scars were covered. She didn't look any different than she had before, which she said would probably be for the best so that Maura and Felix wouldn't be too surprised to see a stranger show up with the captain of the Dellevan guard as an escort.

When Maura first answered the door, she seemed so relieved to see that the child she saw as "Chris" was alright. A moment later though she noticed Faris and her gaze turned as cold as the ice around them.

"I don't suppose this child has been troubling you at all, has he?" She asked angrily.

Faris smiled nervously, took off his helmet, and gave a slight bow. "No, not at all. Would you mind if I came in for a moment?"

"Why should I let you? All of your underlings came bursting through my door in the middle of the night, I would have thought that they would be satisfied with their search!" She didn't seem to notice the kindly tone in his voice at all. That or she just didn't care.

"I assure you, it's of great importance." Faris said.

Maura looked between him and Aamira for a second before she sighed and moved out of the way. "Suit yourself."

After they had all gone inside and found a place to sit in the main room, Maura closed the door behind them. It was then that she noticed Quill for the first time. "Oh, Chris, have you—?"

"Found my partner?" Aamira asked. "No, not yet unfortunately. Quill's just as good though."

A fluffy white pokemon that Quill didn't recognize jumped down from the mantle above the fireplace and ran over to Quill. "Hey, Maur, this guy smells pretty weird. Doesn't smell like he comes from anywhere I'm familiar with."

"Really?" Maura said. "That's unusual, considering all of the people who stay at our inn. Well, never mind that; if he's a friend of Chris's than he's allowed to stay." She looked back in Faris's direction. "Now then, what exactly do you want?"

Faris folded his hands and looked down when he spoke. "You should know, first off, that the soldiers that came through here weren't under my immediate command. I really am sorry for any damages they might have done. The reason they conducted that search last night was because an outlaw from Dellevis had been spotted in the area and they believed that someone in the city could be harboring that outlaw."

"What do I care about some outlaw?" Maura said. "Do you know how terrified my nephew was? He's already scared of everyone associated with Dellevis to begin with, but after what happened last night… You know he spent the night of that clubhouse of his out in the forest? He still refuses to come back home, you know. Wants to make sure all the guards are really gone. Well then, who is this outlaw? It had better be a really bad one after what happened last night."

"That outlaw was me." Aamira said.

Maura stared at her, sure that she must have heard wrong. On top of hearing that the child she had cared for over the last half a year was an outlaw, she could have sworn that his voice was suddenly much higher pitched than it had been before.

Aamira had been dreading telling the truth, but knew it was the right thing to do, especially after hearing about what had happened the previous night. She told Maura almost everything, leaving out the details of why exactly she wanted to run away from her home town, from the time she ran away to the time when she had arrived in this area.

Maura's hands were shaking, but even so, she seemed a lot calmer than before now that she knew that Faris was indeed an ally of sorts. "The princess of Dellevis, here in my house for half a year, and I never realized. But I thought your eyes were blue."

"Th-They were…" Aamira said. "It's hard to explain, but they changed color at one point."

"Hmm, well, no matter. I always liked your mother better than the king anyway; it seems more fitting that you would have her eyes."

There was a dull thudding sound from outside. Cinccino jumped up as if ready to attack if someone came barging in, but when the door opened, it was just a human child with a Sneasel following at his heels.

Maura gave a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, it was just you, Felix. Glad to see you finally came back. Nearly gave me a heart attack though, what were you doing sneaking… Oh, you didn't… hear everything that she just said, did you?"

Felix was staring straight at Aamira with a mixture of fear and confusion. "All of this time, you were… I don't believe it…"

"Felix, just listen to me for a second." Aamira stood up quickly, thinking that he might try to run off before she could even attempt to explain that she wasn't as bad as he apparently thought she was.

Felix took a step back as she stood up. "Just stay away from me." Aamira tried to stop him, but before he even stopped speaking, he had turned and run back out of the door with the Sneasel close behind him. Aamira stood there staring at the opened door for a moment before finally sitting back down.

"Well what did you expect?" Maura asked.

"Why does he hate people from Dellevis so much?" Aamira asked.

"I never told you, did I?" Maura said. "Back when Felix was still a baby, he and his family lived in a village a little to the southeast of here. That village was attacked one day by a group of traveling bandits. His father, who was my brother-in-law, stayed behind to try to fight them off with a few others, giving my sister a chance to take Felix and try to escape. Those who stayed behind were overwhelmed. No survivors have ever been found aside from Felix and my sister.

"That being said, it wasn't long before they caught up to my sister. Their leader, a really ugly brute with a Hippowdon for a partner, managed to chase them to the edge of a cliff. Luckily it wasn't steep, so when my sister decided to jump down, she only suffered from a fractured leg. Her partner wasn't so lucky. He took an attack for them when they jumped and was still unconscious for days after they were finally found. Of course, that meant that she couldn't continue running. The Hippowdon attacked them again with the sand it carries around inside of its back, but just before it hit them, the entire stream of lava was frozen solid, as if it had been turned into solid ice. Seconds later, she heard the sounds of her attackers screaming from above and a little Sneasel came sliding down the stream of ice towards them. My sister begged it to take Felix to me, since I was the closest person she knew.

"After that Sneasel showed up carrying a baby with it, I knew that something must have happened. I organized a few people for a search party and asked the Sneasel to lead us back to where the baby had come from. We found my sister there, half frozen to death and with a broken leg, but she was still alive.

"When she was well enough, she went back to her village, which had been entirely burnt down, and made a small memorial for her husband there. It was a few years after the attack that she decided to take Felix to see the memorial for the first time. He must have been around five years old at the time, I think. They met some guards from Dellevis who had heard about the incident and who had heard the story of how my sister and Felix survived. For some reason, this really interested the king. He apparently had a difficult time believing that a Sneasel had been what froze the sand. They would have brought all of them back to Dellevis with them, if my sister hadn't said that her partner, Sealeo, had been the one who froze the sand. This seemed like a more likely cause to them apparently, but even so they decided to take my sister and her Sealeo back with them anyway. It's very unusual for someone to give orders to someone else's partner, but in that instant she did. She ordered the Sneasel who had saved Felix once before to make sure he wouldn't follow them. That little Sneasel held him back until they were out of sight and dragged him all the way back here.

"My sister was never seen again after that. I'd like to think that she's just sitting in a prison cell at the very least, but… well, that's less than likely, isn't it? Felix was too young to remember the bandits, but of course he would remember the guards taking his mother way. Who could he blame but the guards themselves and the ones they take their orders from? That meaning, of course, Xerxes and yourself by extent, even though you would have only been eight years old at the time and couldn't be responsible for what happened in any way."

"I'm really sorry for what happened." Aamira said. "Both back then and last night. I couldn't just leave without thanking your for everything you've done for me, even if you didn't realize it."

"Well, no reason to apologize then." Maura said with a smile. "If you're going to leave though, it might be for the best that you don't come back. I don't think Felix will be as friendly next time."

A few hours later, they had met up with Lucario and Victini again and continued on their way to the Mirror Palace. Lucario noticed immediately that Aamira wasn't acting the way she had been before going into town. When he questioned her about what happened, she wouldn't answer. Of course she understood the reason Maura didn't want her to come back, but even so she couldn't help feeling that she wasn't wanted there at all by the person who had taken care of her for the last half year and someone who had become a really close friend.


	6. Chapter 6 Ursaring and the General

Most of that day, they spent their time looking for shelter before nightfall. By the time they finally found somewhere to stay, the sun was setting and even the smallest mountains were still visible on the horizon. Quill and Lucario were both worried that this was how they were going to spend every night, though Aamira didn't seem too concerned.

"We have to stay out of the moonlight." She said. "Finding cover from moonlight is essential even if it means spending the whole day looking for it."

"But what about Daisy?" Quill asked.

"Oh don't worry about her." Aamira said. "They wouldn't hurt her for no reason. As long as she doesn't get into too much trouble, and I doubt she can, they wouldn't dare hurt her until they found me."

"But why wouldn't they?" Quill asked.

"I never mentioned whether the Cyndaquil I knew was male or female, that's why they confused her for you. The thing is, I haven't been entirely obedient lately and running away probably won't help the situation if they were to catch me. They wouldn't want to risk me running off again, so they would probably threaten Daisy if I don't do what they want. Of course, that leads to two good effects; they won't threaten Daisy until they find me—that is, if they find me—and they wouldn't dare hurt her until then."

Quill sighed. That was a little reassuring at least.

"But why exactly do we need to find shelter from moonlight?" Lucario asked.

"Because Zoroark has gone to the Eye of the Moon before and he stole some of the water from it from before it was oversaturated with dark energy. Since he still has the purest form of the water, he can use it to see anywhere the moonlight reaches."

"How does that work?" Lucario asked.

"I can't say I know for sure." Aamira said. "I assume it's something like the Reflecting Mirror, only in a simpler form. The Reflecting Mirror shows every shred of knowledge that has ever existed or will ever exist. The water from the Eye of the Moon shows everywhere the moonlight touches at a precise moment. Of course, having been to the lake before means that Zoroark can live forever, so obviously he's had plenty of time to practice."

"How old is Zoroark exactly?" Victini asked.

"Really old." Aamira said, though she didn't seem to be too eager to elaborate on how she knew this or how significant this was to their current dilemma.

The place they had decided to stay at was a cave in the ground much like the one that Lucario had stayed in when he first got to this world. Victini fell asleep almost as soon as the sun went down. The flames of their small campfire flickering on the dark walls created a hypnotic effect that put them all into a half-sleep state. The only one who still seemed wide awake was Mienshao, who was spending his time carving a staff out of a tree branch that he had found while walking.

When everyone was nearly asleep, a loud, cracking noise filled the cave, waking everyone up in an instant. The source of the noise wasn't too hard to find. In the center of the cave, Mienshao and Aamira were standing facing each other. From the looks of it, Mienshao had attacked her with the staff he had carved, but she had been able to block it between the palms of both of her hands.

Mienshao continued in an attempt to sweep at her feet, first with a low kick and then following up with his tail. Aamira managed to dodge both by jumping into the air twice, still holding onto the staff, and only letting go after using the staff to pull herself up and kick Mienshao with both feet across the cave floor.

Mienshao coughed, clutched at his stomach, and sat up painfully. "Sloppy as usual, I see. Haven't practiced at all in the last few months, have you?"

"Well I haven't exactly had the chance to, you know." Aamira said. "Pokemon and human martial arts forms vary, so wouldn't it look suspicious?"

"It didn't look too sloppy to me." Quill said. "I mean, she did manage to kick you across the floor."

Bisharp laughed from her corner in the back of the cave. "He was holding back, of course."

Looking back towards Aamira, Quill saw that she was rubbing her hands, which were now extremely red. No doubt they would bruise pretty badly. In spite of Mienshao being old and somewhat frail, he had to hold back? Quill was so used to Aamira being strong, but how weak were humans exactly?

"Of course it's not as if I only issued that little sneak attack as a test for Aamira." Mienshao said. "She passed as far as I'm concerned. Bisharp as well, as you seemed to be paying attention to everything that was happening from the start. The rest of you, though… Do you honestly think that you can let your guard down for a single second in the current circumstances?"

"You too?" Aamira asked Faris with a smirk.

Faris looked a little embarrassed, but it was Bisharp that spoke up. "You're joking, right? Faris is even lazier than Victini. Always has been. In a relaxed and relatively peaceful country like Dellevis was when he first became the captain of the guard, all he needed to know was the technique. He had no need to demonstrate the discipline. If our country was ever in a war, no doubt you would be replaced quickly. You would never be the captain of the guard and you certainly wouldn't ever be the General." Faris flinched at this. It seemed like this had really struck a nerve with him. "You need to start owning up to your mistakes! Do you even remember the event that caused me to evolve? I hope you do, because I know I would never forget what happened!"

Aamira felt bad for what had just happened. She felt that by joking around, that she had instigated this little outburst from Bisharp. It seemed to have a strange effect of Faris. More than anything, Aamira had never seen him as lazy before. Even so, he really seemed to be acknowledging the accusations that his partner was making.

She looked over towards Victini, who was still sleeping in his little corner near the front of the cave. He was curled up tightly, no doubt trying to stay as warm as possible. Aamira thought that he would probably like a charcoal bed like the one Quill had. He looked a little funny, being curled up so tightly with his large ears still sticking up from his head.

While staring at Victini's ears, Aamira saw one of them twitch. Victini's eyes shot open and he floated into the air.

"What is it?" Aamira asked, straining her own ears to hear whatever his much more powerful ones had heard.

Everyone else, who was still listening to Bisharp's continuous ranting, turned towards Victini and noticed for the first time that he was actually awake.

Quill walked over to Victini and stood next to him. "There's someone out there moving around in the grass."

"I thought I heard that too." Victini said.

Lucario closed his eyes and looked for the newcomer's aura. It wasn't too hard to find. It seemed to be the aura of a pokemon; a young one from the brightness of it. "I think it's a kid. Whoever it is, they're not trying to hide their aura."

Quill edged a little closer to the mouth of the cave. "There's a slight cloud cover, but it might shift. Should I go check it out?"

"No, stay here." Faris said. "They might just be passing through. We can't take any unnecessary risks."

They stayed quiet, waiting for the kid to keep moving. Lucario continued to watch it the entire time. He couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed like the kid was looking for something. Maybe the kid had heard Bisharp's voice and had come to investigate.

"I-Is anyone there?" His voice sounded timid and not the least bit threatening.

Aamira moved as quietly as she could towards the mouth of the cave, though Lucario noticed the kid outside look in her direction. What was a silent motion to a human, this pokemon was able to hear clearly.

"Who's there?!" He shouted nervously.

"It's alright." Aamira said. "I won't hurt you. Is something wrong?"

"Who else is there with you? I smell two humans and four pokemon."

"You just answered that question, didn't you?" Aamira said. "Come on in, don't be scared. Maybe we can help you."

The nose of a small pokemon moved towards the edge of the cave. He sniffed around the edge of the cave, as if trying to tell entirely based off of their scent whether they were a threat. He apparently decided that they weren't, because a few seconds later, he slid down into the entrance of the cave, getting tangled in a few roots as he did so.

The pokemon, a little Poochyena, looked around at all of them. When he saw Lucario, his eyes widened and he leapt at him with a loud growl and bit him on the arm.

"Ouch." Lucario pulled him off easily and threw the smaller pokemon far enough away that he wouldn't be able to attack again easily. "Calm down and tell us what's wrong."

Poochyena continued to growl and glare at Lucario, though after a few minutes he noticed that Lucario wasn't attacking back and he finally started to calm down. He started to cry and hid his face under his forelegs.

"What's going on?" Faris asked, being the only one who couldn't understand Poochyena.

"My human and I came from a really small village." Poochyena said. "Almost every human there had a canine pokemon. We all thought that since the pokemon there weren't wild that we were safe from the alphas. But then one day they showed up and took everyone away. Humans too. They drove every human without a canine pokemon away from the village and raided the whole place. Me and my partner managed to hide in an old cellar that we used to have under our house, but got closed up years ago. We were the only ones who knew about it since we used to go down there to play all the time."

"And they weren't able to sniff you out?" Quill asked.

Poochyena shook his head. "We lived in that house, and there were a lot of canines in the village, so out scents were pretty well hidden. We stayed down there for a long time before finally going outside. There were still a few of them lingering around the village, but we managed to avoid them and run away. My momma always said that if something bad happened to run to Neltona and find my cousins. She said that family members, no matter how distant, were always welcome there and that they would even take care of my human if she had nowhere to go."

"You're almost at the border now." Aamira said. "So what happened? Did you two get separated?"

Poochyena nodded. "There was a really loud roar and this huge Ursaring came running at us out of the forest. We ran in the same direction and I thought she was right behind me, but… I don't know what happened. I turned around after I was sure it was gone and she wasn't there. I was so scared and then I heard someone yelling from over here so I tried to find help. I wasn't picky who it was, even if it was the Alphas. Even so, I kind of lost my head for a moment when I saw your friend there." He said, indicating Lucario.

"So you must have run here from the forest in the south, right?" Aamira asked.

Poochyena nodded.

Aamira inched towards the mouth of the cave. "It's dawn and still a little overcast. Let's get going."

"Hang on, where are we going?" Faris asked.

"Oh, sorry!" Aamira had only just realized that every one of Poochyena's words had just sounded like a bunch of growls to him. "This Poochyena and his partner were separated while running from the Alphas. There's an Ursaring in the forest to the south that was chasing them."

"Was there anything distinguishing about this Ursaring?" Lucario asked.

Poochyena nodded. "It kept swinging it's arms wildly from side to side when trying to attacks us, so just before we turned to run, I noticed some of the fur was sticking up on its back, as if it had gotten scraped on something rough, like maybe a stone or some tree bark."

"I was afraid of that." Lucario turned to Aamira. "It's the same one that I fought when I first came to look for you. I'm sure of it." He decided not to mention that he was with the Alphas at the time or that he had come from a different world. There was no point in making the kid even more scared than before.

"If you were able to fight it off once, it shouldn't be too big of a problem if we run into it again." Faris said. "We need to go through the southern forest on our way to the palace anyway.

"All of this running around…" Mienshao said. "Too much for my old bones."

"I get it." Aamira said, sounding strangely sympathetic. "Victini is too easily recognized and we'll be in a highly populated area soon. Why don't you escort him back to Mt. Victoria?"

Victini looked like he was about to protest, but a glance from Aamira stopped him. After a few minutes of preparation, their two groups headed out; Mienshao and Victini to Mt. Victoria, and Aamira, Faris, Bisharp, Quill, Lucario, and Poochyena to the forest. Poochyena still seemed terrified, but he was looking a little more determined now as well.

"Why did you really want Mienshao and Victini to go?" Quill asked.

"Well it's true that Victini would be too easily recognized and probably shouldn't keep going with us from this point forward. He worries about me all the time, but he never realizes that I worry about him just as much. Mienshao always complains about his bones in order to get out of doing something. In this case it's kind of understandable." Aamira lowered her voice so Poochyena couldn't hear. "Mienshao won't admit it, but he used to have a human partner too."

"What happened?" Quill asked.

"His partner was born into a family that tended to have exclusively psychic types for their partners. Because of that, when they first met she wanted to keep him a secret. When someone finally found out, she was kicked out of her house, even though she had no control over who her partner would be. They ended up arguing for a while after that and they both stormed off, agreeing never to talk to the other again. The same night though, he had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. He came back just as his partner was buried under a landslide. The closer a pokemon is to their partner when they die, the worse they feel when it happens. Seeing it happen up close like that must have felt like his soul was being ripped in two. He always shunned humans after that, but apparently I ended up meeting a few years before going to Atra and he ended up teaching me how to fight."

"That explains why you caught on so fast when I first started teaching you." Lucario said. "How do you know that… Mienshao didn't get a new partner?"

"Mienshao is kind of unusual. He only got his partner after he was already considered to be fairly old. He had already evolved at the time too. Most pokemon only have one partner, but sometimes there are exceptions. It wouldn't surprise me if he was one of those exceptions, but I know for sure he's not my partner. I would be able to tell if he was. Besides, from the very start he's never wanted anything to do with humans. In the years before he finally met his partner, he had been a deserter."

"So he tried to avoid her and after they finally did meet, she died right in front of him." Quill said. "That's so sad. So I guess he didn't want to get involved in this because he's afraid the same thing would happen to Poochyena and his partner."

After they got into the forest, Poochyena immediately took charge of trying to find his partner. Having known her for so long, he had her scent memorized and his nose was one of the best in their village. He searched for the Ursaring's scent as well, since it hadn't been in this forest for very long and its scent wasn't too strong in this area yet.

"I found her!" Poochyena started running towards the source of the scent. He was so determined to find her that the rest of them really had to struggle to keep up. Apparently his partner wasn't the only thing he smelled, because just as they were starting to tire, he put on another burst of speed.

They saw someone standing in a clearing up ahead. Just as they were about to enter the clearing, a loud roar made them all stop. A human girl, who looked about the same age as Aamira, came running in their direction. She completely ignored all of them, including Poochyena, and ran straight past them. Following her came the Ursaring, who Lucario thought looked even more enraged than before.

The Ursaring started to chase after the other human, but stopped and turned to look at them. "That human smell… Uh, who was it?"

"Look at the stone around its neck." Quill whispered to Aamira while the Ursaring, who didn't seem very bright, tried to remember the smell.

Aamira had been so busy looking up at the ferocious face of the Ursaring that she hadn't even noticed the white stone tied around its neck with a thick leather strap.

"It's the same Ursaring, but that wasn't there before." Lucario said. "Who could have been able to get a stone like that around its neck?"

"I have a few ideas…" Aamira said.

"That smell…" Ursaring continued to stare in their direction, but not at any of them in particular. Suddenly its eyes narrowed and it looked directly towards Aamira. It roared loudly and attacked her with Slash.

Lucario jumped in front to block it, but it was so much stronger than last time that it managed to knock him aside. Luckily, it gave everyone else enough time to retreat into the clearing where they would have more room to fight it. The clearing, as it turned out, was an area of toppled trees, no doubt from when the Ursaring had been on a particularly bad rampage. The fallen trees made it difficult for them to maneuver, but it created a good amount of hiding places, which Poochyena immediately took advantage of.

Bisharp immediately jumped in, attacking repeatedly with Slash and Metal Claw, though she was just able to keep up with the overpowered Ursaring. Quill joined in when Bisharp started to tire, using repeated fire type attack on its legs and arms in an attempt to slow it down. Lucario joined in as well, using repeated Aura Spheres in an attempt to knock it out. The whole time, the Ursaring continued its rampage, seemingly unaware of the pain caused by the burns or the fighting type attacks.

Aamira watched helplessly, wishing that she could do something. It had been her that the Ursaring had initially attacked, and yet she couldn't do anything about it as a human. In spite of her training with Mienshao, fighting a pokemon in her current state just wasn't going to happen. Faris, at least, had a sword, which he now had drawn. He was standing between Aamira and the battle as a sort of last line of defense in case they couldn't knock it out.

During an attempt to slice at the back of the Ursaring's legs, Bisharp was hit by a sudden and powerful Hammer Arm, which sent her flying across the clearing.

"Bisharp!" Faris seemed to forget all about Aamira in that instant and ran over to check on his partner, who had been knocked unconscious.

With Faris gone, Aamira now had a clear view of the battle scene. Things weren't going well; not only was Bisharp now unconscious, but Quill and Lucario's attacks didn't seem to be doing much damage at all. On the other hand, Ursaring was doing a lot of damage to both of them with a varying folly of attacks.

Ursaring managed to get Quill with a Slash and knocked him to the ground. It pulled back its arm in preparation for another attack. Quill closed his eyes as the Mega Punch came hurtling towards him. He heard what sounded like a loud crack and looked up to see Aamira standing in front of him. She had managed to hold back the attack by using both arms, but it sounded as if it had broken at least one of her arms in the process.

Not wanting to wait for Aamira's arms to give out, Lucario rushed over to Quill and pulled him out of the way. As soon as both of them were clear of the attack, Aamira jumped back and the Ursaring stumbled forward, getting its claws lodged in the ground where Quill had been only moments before.

Ursaring pulled on its arm until it finally came free and it looked in Aamira's direction. "Protected a pokemon… Won't protect humans though… You hurt humans…"

Aamira was clutching her broken right arm and had barely even registered what the Ursaring said. Eventually, she started to make some sense of it. Suddenly she realized who exactly this Ursaring was.

"Do you mean your partner, Teddy?" Aamira asked.

The Ursaring looked outraged, as if unable to believe that Aamira would even dare mention her partner's name. It roared loudly and took a few steps towards her.

"Hold on, just listen to me." Aamira said. "I know you're mad at me for what happened. I tried everything I could to save him, but by the time I found him it was already too late."

"You start fire!" Ursaring roared.

"No, that wasn't me!" Aamira said. "I know, it probably did look like it was me, but you've got to believe me. For the longest time, I didn't know what to believe, but I found the person who really started that fire and they even admitted to it."

"Liar!" Ursaring roared, taking another step forward.

"If I was lying, then why didn't I use fire to help my friends fight you instead of hiding behind a guard like a coward?!" Aamira shouted. This did seem to get the Ursaring's attention and she hesitated for a moment. "I know you don't want to believe me of all people, but please listen. After that fire happened, I ran away, didn't I? Some time after that, I lost my memory. Even then, the one thing I could remember was being accused of starting that fire by Teddy's older brother. I didn't know what to believe back then and that nightmare haunted me almost every single night. You don't know how scared and relieved I was when I ended up coming face to face with the person who had really done it."

Aamira took a few nervous steps towards Ursaring, who was still poised to strike. "Even so, I couldn't do anything. Please believe me, I would have if I was able to, but I'm nearly as weak as any other human, you know?" She reached up behind the Ursaring's neck with her one good arm and started to untie the leather band attaching the stone to the Ursaring's neck. "I bet the person who started the fire, was the very same who gave you this stone." She let go of the leather band and let it fall to the floor, being careful not to touch the stone.

Ursaring's eyes started to tear up and she slumped on the ground, overwhelmed by grief and finally feeling the effect that all of those repeated attacks had had on her. "Teddy gone… Really not you…?"

Aamira shook her head. "It wasn't me, I promise." She wrapped her arm around the Ursaring's neck in a half hug. "Teddy's gone, as you said. Even if you did find the person who started the fire, even if you did get revenge for it, what would that accomplish? It won't bring him back, you know, anymore than attacking as many innocent humans and pokemon as you can would. I know it's hard, but you have to try to move on."

Ursaring gave a low, grieving growl. It also seemed like there was some remorse in it as well, as though it finally realized that rampaging as it had been doing was a bad thing. "I'm sorry…" Ursaring stood up and ran off through the forest, no longer attacking and destroying everything within arms reach as it had been doing, but simply running in an attempt to get away from everything that had happened.

With the Ursaring gone, Aamira clutched her arm with her left hand. She had been trying her best to ignore the pain up until now, but now it was getting too unbearable to ignore.

"That was really something." Faris said, as he walked back over to her, carrying the injured Bisharp in his arms. "I kind of wish I could understand pokemon. It would make a lot of things a lot less complicated."

Quill, who was now back on his feet, ran over to Aamira to look at her injured arm. Aamira flinched when he touched it, but didn't attempt to pull away. "I don't know much about human anatomy, but it looks like that blow might have snapped the Ulna. It's going to be difficult finding someone who can heal an injury like that."

"Always so reckless, aren't you?" Faris asked. "I remember when you were escaping a few months ago, you knocked out an Armaldo with one punch, broke almost every bone in your hand, and didn't even notice until I did."

"You did that?" Lucario asked.

"Yea." Aamira said. "Never mind that though; where's Poochyena?"

"O-over here…" Poochyena finally came out of hiding from behind a nearby fallen tree. "I'm sorry, I just can't help it. Whenever there's any sort of danger, I just run off without thinking. Even before, when I thought my partner was right behind me when we were running from Ursaring, I just kept going. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be hurt like this."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Aamira said. "I needed a little action anyway. Finally a lot more like the good old days."

"And where were you during all of this…?" Bisharp asked Faris, having finally regained consciousness. "Fussing over me, I assume. You didn't even realize who's been watching us from the shadows ever since the fight started."

At this, everyone turned towards the edge of the clearing. Standing there was a muscular female human with long blonde hair, who seemed to be a few years younger than Faris, and a Drowzee, who they assumed was her partner. Even though her partner hadn't evolved yet, it was holding the same pendulum that a Hypno would, which seemed to be made of Leuminite. They noticed that his human partner was wearing earrings that looked just liked the pendulum, which also seemed to be made of Leuminite. The worst part of the situation though, was that the human was wearing a guard's uniform similar to Faris's. Faris tried to move in front of Aamira to block her from sight, but it was far too late for that.

"Well, if it isn't Faris." She said. "It's been a while. But what a surprise, to see the company that you're in." at these words, she glanced towards Aamira and then back to Faris. "Now correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you supposed to be leading the search for her? Oh, Xerxes won't be happy about this, not in the slightest."

"Who is that?" Quill asked Bisharp.

"That's Lily." Bisharp whispered back to him. "Although for the longest time she was more well known as Faris's younger sister."

"Although recently, if you hadn't heard, everyone just calls me General." She said. "You know, ever since I got that promotion?" Drowzee used Psychic to grab the stone that had been tied around the Ursaring's neck and levitate it back over to them. "You're right in thinking that Xerxes was the one who put this around that Ursaring's neck. She was after you for revenge, so who better to search for you? With this stone, no one should have been able to stop her easily. Sure enough, she led us directly to you. Not only you, but my dear brother and that runaway Poochyena who managed to escape that village a while back."

Poochyena whimpered and retreated back to his hiding place.

"It was you who led the Alphas there, wasn't it?" Faris asked.

"Yes, and this Poochyena was highly prized there for his sensitive nose. Apparently, it's even better than a Mightyena's. So you understand that I can't let any of you go free." She glanced at Drowzee, who used Psychic once more to capture all of them. Aamira nearly cried out in pain as she felt the psychic attack pressing against her bad arm. The only two who were still able to move were Bisharp, who was too injured to fight, and Poochyena, who was still hiding under the fallen tree.

"The Mirror Palace is closest, so perhaps we will head that way instead of traveling all the way back to the capital. She moved closer to the fallen tree in order to grab Poochyena, but at that moment one other person entered the clearing. The same human girl, who they had seen running away from the Ursaring, ran over to her partner's hiding place and stood there, rooted to the spot, in an attempt to protect him.

"Emily, don't!" Poochyena shouted. "Hurry up and run!"

"Oh, are you his partner?" the General asked. "How convenient to find both of you here. It saves me the trouble of looking for you later."

"You're not getting my Poochyena!" she shouted. "I'm not running away ever again. I know he can't help that he's scared, so I'm not going to run and abandon him ever again!"

"Oh, how very brave. Have you ever thought that maybe your constantly standing in front of him and protecting him like this is why he's such a cowardly pokemon? A cowardly pokemon is a useless pokemon; there's no reason to make a bad situation worse. Maybe with you out of the way, he'll finally learn to stand on his own feet for once."

"Don't you dare hurt her!" Faris shouted. "I'm sure Xerxes would want both of them. You'll pay dearly if you hurt the partner of such a valuable pokemon."

"So what if the partner refused to cooperated and I had no other choice? Acting in my own defense, you know, and acting on the priority of my mission. Of course, who would argue otherwise? A traitor like you?" She laughed and drew her sword from her sheath.

Even when faced with such a dangerous weapon, Poochyena's partner refused to move. Everyone was so focused on the scene in front of them, that they didn't notice the slight glow from Poochyena's hiding place. Just as the General was about to strike, a Mightyena leapt out from below the tree and tackled her to the ground. Her sword just barely managed to graze the Mightyena's side before being knocked out of her hand.

Mightyena didn't even notice the cut in his side. He glanced over in Drowzee's direction, glaring and snarling viciously. Drowzee stared back fearfully and stumbled backwards, losing his concentration on Psychic and releasing everyone in the process.

The General scrambled backwards and stood up next to her partner. Being a dark type, none of her Drowzee's moves would affect that Mightyena. It seemed that without her sword, she was completely defenseless. Without even speaking another word, she turned and ran with her Drowzee following behind.

"Oh, my Poochyena… Mightyena, that is." Mightyena's partner ran to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Mightyena growled affectionately and wagged his tail. "I'm so sorry I left you behind, Emily. I promise I'll never run away again. For now on, if I can't fight them off, I'll scare them off instead."

A while later, their group left the forest. Emily and Mightyena thanked them for their help and, after Quill assured them that the cut in Mightyena's side would heal quickly, though it might leave a slight scar, they continued on their way to Neltona. The rest of them continued to move southeast towards the Mirror Palace. Somehow, it seemed that they had covered a lot of distance in the last couple of days.

"It's still pretty cool how you managed to block that Ursaring's attack on your own." Quill said while they were walking. Due to Aamira's injured arm, he had decided to linger in the back of their group with her while everyone else walked ahead.

"It's not something I should be able to do, even if you all did weaken it first." Aamira said. "Remember how Lugia told us that human-born pokemon were usually stronger than other humans?"

"Oh, so that's how you did it." Quill said.

Aamira nodded. "I have to be careful though. Human bodies aren't meant to be able to take that much strength. If I got into a fight with a human, I could seriously injure them. In a fight with a pokemon, I might be able to win, depending on how strong they are, but it'll most likely end in a damaged muscle or a few broken bones." Aamira sighed. "How am I supposed to fight like this? As a human, I'll be pretty much useless in a fight."

"What about Faris?" Quill asked. "Maybe you should ask him to teach you to use a sword."

"Now there's an idea." Aamira ran up closer to Faris, holding her arm with her good hand the whole time, so she wouldn't hurt it any more. Having always fought open-handed, she had never thought much about learning to use a weapon like a sword. She had expected him to refuse, but surprisingly, Faris agreed.

"It's best that you learn to defend yourself in a less dangerous way." Faris said. "Your strength is useful, but it's dangerous for you too. If you can combine your fighting techniques with swordplay, you might be able to figure out something that works."

"Oh, I was wondering something else too." Aamira said. "Is it really such a good idea to be heading to the Mirror Palace now that your sister knows you're helping me? Zoroark knows you're heading there, right?"

"I don't think we'll have to worry." Bisharp said. She was looking a lot better now that she had some time to recover. "We'll be to the palace within the next couple of days. It will take longer for Lily to report what happened to Zoroark. By that point, hopefully we'll already be in Neltona. So too will Mightyena and his partner."

"I hope you're right." Aamira said, unaware of just how wrong she was.

At this time, Zoroark had only been a few miles away, leading a new group of Alpha recruits back towards the capital. It was by a complete coincidence that the General would happen upon him while he and Houndoom were off on their own, out in the forest.

"So that Poochyena evolved to protect his partner and they got away?" He asked, summarizing her report.

"That's the gist of it." The General said, staring nervously into those eyes that seemed to be able to see every one of her thoughts. She was one of the few people who knew what his real form was, though he was now disguised as Xerxes, since his pokemon form was too unnerving for her. Even so, those eyes never changed and they were the most nerve-wracking thing about him.

"The gist of it?" He asked. "Is there anything else you would like to report?"

Oh, why had she said that? She never seemed to be able to hide much of anything around him. Even so, it wasn't as if this was necessarily a bad thing. For years she had been forced to live in her older brother's shadow. Even now that she was the general and technically outranked him, it was still the Captain of the Guard who made all of the public appearances, who was always the most well known, and who was still considered the second in command. Exposing him as a traitor now would change everything. She would finally be free of all of that. What was more, if she gave him a lead as to where Destiny was, she was sure to be rewarded greatly.

And yet she hesitated. Those eyes continued to bore into her own. She felt as though she would go insane if she didn't give him more information on what had happened. "I found the Mightyena and his partner by following that Ursaring you collared. I lost sight of it when I came across the Mightyena and on my way here found the collar on the ground. It must have gotten loose and fell off. There's no way I can continue tracking it now."

"I see…" Xerxes said. "So that's two failures in one day for you. If you continue at this rate, I'll have to demote you."

"I… I understand." She said.

"For now, I would like you to lead these recruits back to the capital. I'm going to head back now in order to keep up appearances. Just remember, if anything else happens on your way back, you will without a doubt lose your title.

"Y-yes, sir." She bowed her head slightly and only looked back up once Xerxes, and Houndoom were a good distance away. What had she just done?


	7. Chapter 7 The Mirror Palace

"Hurry!" Faris shouted as Quill, Aamira, and Lucario ran across the open plane. Normally something like this would be no trouble for Quill and Lucario, but they weren't going to leave Aamira behind.

Aamira's lungs were burning and she felt that she wouldn't be able to keep going for long. Her arm wasn't helping matters much either, in spite of being immobilized in a sling. With one last burst of speed, she cleared the last of the distance between them and the tunnel entrance by the lakebed. Once they were all inside, Aamira leaned against the wall, panting and trying to catch her breath.

"I'm sorry." Quill said. "I had no idea that the ground sloped like that so far from the cave. If I could have just dug us a little closer."

"No, you did good." Aamira said through her gasps for air. "In such a flat landscape, natural caves are pretty rare, so traveling underground by using Dig was a great idea. You couldn't have known that the ground level would change so suddenly. I shouldn't have suggested running. We could have just waited for morning while Faris went on ahead."

"No, I think it was for the best." Faris was looking at the dark night sky outside. The moon had just come out from behind the dark storm clouds in the distance and, though it had started to wane some time ago, was shining brightly. "We got here safely and now we don't have to risk anyone stumbling across our tunnel and fining you."

"So basically you at least eased his mind, even though you nearly got yourself caught by doing it." Bisharp summarized for them.

"Well I doubt any of us wanted to stay in that tunnel for much longer anyway." Lucario said. "Besides, Zoroark might not have been looking right at that moment, even if the moon was out."

"Yea, but look at it now." Aamira was now standing just in the shadow of the cave, looking out over the huge, glass-like lake that surrounded the Mirror Palace. It was no wonder it was called the Mirror Palace; the water on the lake's surface was so still that it looked almost like the water was, in fact, a thin piece of glass separating the palace on their side to an identical, upside-down one on the other side. The clouds were patchy and the light from the moon created a halo effect whenever a cloud came close to it. The moonlight both lit up the dark and dreary clouds and turned the castle into a haunted black silhouette.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

Aamira, who had had a strange look in her eyes until then, finally snapped back to reality. "Oh sorry, what?"

"You were being a little too quiet and you looked a little weird for a second." Lucario said.

"Oh, that…" Aamira said. "It might sound strange but… I guess maybe I'm a little homesick."

"You mean for your hometown?" Quill asked. "But I thought you hated it in this world?"

"Well, I don't like Zoroark, but that doesn't mean I hate the whole world." Aamira said. "After living in this world for around eleven years and not being able to remember it, then only getting a small glimpse of the castle I had called home from the outside while running away… I don't know, I just wish I could remember more of it."

"You should see it in the daytime." Faris said. "Better yet, at sunset. Inari isn't called the city of the setting sun for nothing, you know."

"The thing is, I kind of get the feeling that I've seen it before, like I'm really close to remembering it, and yet all I can ever get is the feeling. The actual memory keeps lingering just on the edges of the shadows."

"Well that's very nice." Bisharp said, reminding them all of the seriousness of their situation. "In case you haven't forgotten, Faris and I were supposed to be at the palace earlier today. We're already running behind, so we have to go now!"

"She's right." Faris said. "Let's get going."

They all followed Faris deeper into the tunnel. He seemed anxious to get through there quickly after spending the last few days underground. Quill had tried to light the way for a while, but as they got closer to the border to Neltona, the soil became moister from their constant rainfall and it became uncomfortably humid when he tried to light the way with his fire. Aside from that, half of the time he was digging through dirt that was more like mud, and was usually too wet for his fire to work well anyway. Lucario had lit the way most of the time with his Aura Sphere, but the light caused by it was still fairly dim, especially to human eyes. To Aamira's surprise, even when it was almost pitch black in the tunnel, she could see fairly well. Because of this, she didn't feel so resentful towards her nickname, "Brighteyes".

The bottom of the tunnel was soon filled with water up to Quill's shoulders when he stood on his back legs. To avoid walking through it, he took to riding on Aamira's shoulder. Lucario was getting tired from using Aura Sphere constantly over the last few days, which was something Aamira couldn't even imagine doing.

Finally their tunnel joined up with an old waterway that was used to keep water away from the lakebeds by the castle during the rainy season, which was almost always in effect in this area. The water didn't go into their tunnel, but continued down in a different direction and joined up with a nearby river. The water in the tunnel had most likely come from the soil above becoming oversaturated or from the lake overflowing and flooding the tunnel. Either way, they had come at a good time. Any other time, this whole tunnel would most likely be completely flooded and impossible to access, although this, according to Faris, was what made it such a secret passage connecting the outside to the inner castle walls.

There were several ladders along the waterway that led to drains on the lakebeds and near the inside of the wall. One certain ladder didn't lead to a drain, but to an apparent dead end. Either way, it was at such an even increment with the rest that anyone who had stumbled across it from the waterway by accident would just assume that it had been closed off long ago. This wasn't the case though.

Faris climbed up the wet and slippery ladder and pushed the tile at the top out of the way. After telling them that it was all clear, everyone followed without hesitation. As it turned out, they weren't inside the wall at all. Well, they were, but they were literally inside it. Hidden between the layers and layers of brick, there was this one small hidden cavity, just big enough for all of them to fit into.

Faris pressed against a section of the brick wall and the whole thing slid out on a sort of rail that wouldn't be visible from the outside or even the inside. They were about to follow when Faris pushed back on the wall, sealing them all inside.

"Ah, Faris! There you are!" It seemed that he had closed the secret passage just in time to keep another guard from spotting them. "You're late. Trouble on the road?"

"You might say that." Faris said with a nervous laugh.

"Yea, I get it." He had obviously interpreted the laugh to mean something other than what it really did, because he kept talking as though it were. "You know that little imp that's been following us around lately? Well it's back and it won't leave us alone for more than a few minutes."

"Ugh, here it comes now." A female voice said. They assumed this was the guard's partner, since he repeated this to Faris.

Lucario closed his eyes and focused on the aura of the people on the other side of the wall. Nothing seemed unusual about this guard. As Faris had said days before, Zoroark hadn't bothered giving any Leuminite to regular guards. His partner, as far as he could tell, wasn't as young as Poochyena had been, though she wasn't very old either. If raised as a guard, she would most likely prove to be quick to anger and extremely violent.

Then he noticed another aura. It was a strange one that looked like a swirling mass of color, most of them fairly dark, like some sort of shadowy whirlpool, and yet much calmer than that. It was almost eerily calm by the speed it moved. He had seen this aura before, though he couldn't remember where. When he finally realized who this was, he thought he must have been mistaken. Surely it couldn't be…

"What do you want?" The angry second guard shouted towards the newcomer. "Get out of here, you little pest!"

Lucario noticed the figure's aura spike, as if making a sudden movement, such as an angry wave of its arms. And yet no words were spoken. Surely not, but then it must have been…

"It's Daisy." He whispered to Aamira and Quill.

Quill nearly fell off of Aamira's shoulder out of surprise. He leaned over to the small crack in the wall where the secret door was hidden. It was small enough that no one would notice it if they didn't already know it was there, and yet just big enough for them to see through.

Quill's excitement died away almost instantly when he recognized the little Banette who was waving both of her arms around furiously at the two guards. "Oh, it's the Banette…" Though it was still interesting to see her here, he couldn't help feeling extremely disappointed. That feeling vanished almost instantly when he felt Aamira's shoulder muscles suddenly tense underneath him. "What is it?"

Aamira shook her head. Maybe she just felt too nervous to talk this close to a potential enemy. Quill was sure that she would tell him later if it was anything important.

"Is there any reason it would want to bother us so much?" Faris asked the other guard.

"Not that I know of." he said. "Well you know there's that one pokemon that Houndoom brought a few days back. Ever since it's been sneaking around. You know how strict all of our protocol is, and yet everyone goes a little over the line sometimes. Naps on night duty, playing card games at night, you know."

"I do love my card games." Faris said.

"Well with that… that THING roaming around here, if we step even one toe out of line, it slaps us!"

"Just kick it out then. OUCH!" Apparently he had just received one such slap from Daisy.

"It had a message that came with it, with the king's seal. We have to keep it here, but he doesn't say why. Maybe he thinks that we're being too relaxed with the security."

Aamira couldn't help smiling to herself. That much was true. If it hadn't been, they never would have been able to sneak in like they had. All of the guards knew about the tunnel leading to the waterways, though they didn't know about this hidden entrance. At the very least they should have stationed someone outside of the tunnel.

"Well, I'll figure out what it's doing here." Faris said. "I'll relieve you of duty, go get some rest."

"But sir, you've been traveling for days. Surely you're the one who needs rest?"

"Thank you for your concern." Faris said. "However, I think you'll find that my endurance is somewhat higher than yours. Of course, I have my energetic partner to thank for that."

The other guard laughed. "Understandable. Should I take this imp with me?"

"Yes, please do. Maybe it could go chase around the other slackers who are asleep on duty."

After a while, Bisharp came back to the secret passage and told them that they were alone. Daisy had finally agreed to go off with the other guard.

"Faris is keeping an eye out." Bisharp said. "In the morning we're going to go check things out and try to find a better hiding spot. For the time being, you'll all have to make due with this. We won't be able to stay here all night, so keep your voices down and don't talk at all unless it's absolutely necessary. Other guards will be making their rounds, so be sure to keep quiet."

"What if their partners smell us or hear our breathing?" Aamira asked.

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem." Bisharp said. "There are a lot of salt deposits in this area, so the entire castle would smell like salt to a pokemon. The smell of the salty water from the waterways will help to cover your scents. The wall here is thick enough to block out quieter sounds, so as long as you don't speak too loudly, they shouldn't hear you either."

Aamira sighed and sat against the side of the wall. Of course after being a prisoner for so long, being in such a small space like this probably wasn't the most exciting thing in her mind. More than that though, that was the first time that she truly realized that Lucario and Quill were most likely being hunted just as much as she was. Maybe not Quill so much because they got him and Daisy mixed up at first, but how long would it be before they realized?

Zoroark would definitely want Lucario to join the hunters, which was why he would be looking for him. Even so, he didn't know the real reason why Zoroark wanted him to join. In fact, aside from Aamira, Mew was probably the only person who would know that reason. She decided that she would definitely have to tell them once they got out of this place.

Eventually they all managed to fall asleep. The next day they were woken up by the sound of metal scraping on stone. Since Bisharp had a habit of doing this to sharpen her blades, it had become their signal over the past few days.

"We're awake…" Aamira said groggily as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Meet us by the fountain in the center of the keep at dusk." Bisharp said. "We found—"

She was cut off suddenly, most likely by another pokemon coming her way. They heard her walking away, trying to keep her pace slow and calm but not trying to seem too deliberate. Whatever she had been trying to say, they would have to find out later when they met with her and Faris.

They had slept a lot longer than they realized. It was already past noon by the time Bisharp had come by. They wondered what she and Faris had been up to in that amount of time.

When the sound of the guards on patrol started to fade, Aamira risked speaking for just a few moments. "You two need to be ready for a fight." She whispered to them.

"Why is that? Bisharp didn't give us any specific details." Lucario whispered back.

"That's what I'm worried about." Aamira said. "It could be that the General managed to alert someone by now about seeing us with Faris in the forest. They might already suspect that we're here just because Faris is here."

"But she couldn't have gone back to the capitol already, could she?" Quill asked.

"We can't count on that." Aamira said. "If Faris was captured, it could be that they're using Bisharp to lure us into a trap. I know it seems terrible to be so suspicious of an ally, but there's no other choice if we're going to get out of here without being caught. We have to stay on guard at all times."

They both nodded and they returned to silence. After hours of waiting, the sun began to set. The break in noise before had been during a change in the guard. Now they were waiting for another one so that they would be able to sneak out.

When the shift finally changed, Aamira pushed open the secret passage and they snuck out. Quill kept his ears strained and Lucario kept a lookout for anyone's aura. When the fountain came into sight, they were able to relax a little. Both Faris and Bisharp had been waiting for them and there had been no sign of an ambush or trap of any sort.

"What's going on?" Aamira asked.

"We're not going to be able to stay here." Faris said. "Remember what the other guard said before? That Banette showed up right when a certain prisoner was brought here. You might know who it is. It's a Cyndaquil wearing a red and white bow."

"Daisy!" Quill said.

"I tried to sneak in to find her, but security here is really tight right now, so I couldn't figure out where she's being held." Bisharp said. "Sorry I couldn't be more helpful."

"Don't worry, we can figure it out." Aamira said.

"You've noticed how heavy the guard is, haven't you?" Faris asked. "Normally there are only a few guards stationed here in order to defend the border if need be. The only reason it would ever be this heavily guarded would be if the king was meeting an ambassador from another country, usually Neltona."

"He's not coming here, is he?" Quill asked.

"Possibly." Faris said. "If he does, I'm afraid hiding here won't be an option. However, I think there's a greater reason for it. Daisy was kidnapped in the first place to lure Aamira out of hiding. Having her kept as a prisoner in such a highly secure area would almost guarantee that you would be found and captured in a rescue attempt."

"So are you saying we should just run?" Aamira asked.

"That would be the sensible thing to do." Bisharp said.

"But not the right thing." Faris said. "I'm sure that Zoroark would know that you had some help in escaping before, but I think he would count on you trying to rescue her alone. He would probably assume that whoever had helped you would try to stop you from doing this. Between the five of us, I think we might be able to fight our way through. There is a repercussion though…"

"Your treachery will become known. You'll be replaced as the captain of the guard." Aamira said.

"Why can't you just ask to see Daisy?" Quill asked.

"Because many of these guards don't answer to me, but to Zoroark directly. Some of them are probably even aware that Xerxes is nothing more than a disguise. If I made them suspicious in any way, they would surely tell him. Even then, there would still be the issue of how to get her out."

"But we would know where she is." Quill said.

"Not necessarily." Aamira said. "I'm sure Zoroark would have made them memorize a code of sorts. He probably would have made it so that no one could go near her unless they gave them a certain password to assure them that it was an order directly from him."

"I've memorized a few such codes on his orders before, but not the same ones that the guards would know." Faris said. "It's obvious that he doesn't want me as an enemy and is only doing it to keep me on his side. Not really on his side, but under his control. My word means a lot to quite a few people. No doubt he wouldn't want me spreading certain rumors."

"Like if I somehow convinced you to tell people that I really did reappear?" Aamira asked. "That was around the time Zoroark showed you who he really was."

Faris nodded. "That's what I think. It would have been nice to stay on as a spy for a while longer, but unfortunately it looks like that's not going to be possible unless we want to abandon that Cyndaquil."

"There is another option." Aamira said in a voice that told them that he wasn't going to like hearing it. "You could leave the rescue to us."

"Absolutely not!" Bisharp said.

Aamira sighed and shook her head. "You don't get it, do you? What's it going to matter what happens to me a hundred years from now? Even if something bad does happen to me, you would still be able to beat Zoroark from being on the inside. If I get captured, so what? You could always break me out later. I'm sure you'd find a way. Or is there some reason I shouldn't trust you to rescue me later?"

"Well… no…" Faris said.

"Zoroark will think of plans from every angle to corner his enemies. We need to do the same. Teamwork is important, but that doesn't mean we always have to work as a team. Working together but separately at the same time would just be that much more effective."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence between them before Bisharp spoke up. "I get it now. I really underestimated you before. She's right, Faris. We can't underestimate the situation."

Faris seemed reluctant to agree, but eventually he nodded. "Alright. Get going now before it gets too dark. Aamira, I trust you'll remember your way around. If not I hope you at least get a sense of the Palace like you did with Inari. You all have a five minute head start. After that I'll have to chase after you, not as your enemy but as the Captain of the Guard."

Lucario and Quill looked shocked, but Aamira and nodded and ran around to the side of the castle wall. They hesitated for a second before following after her. They realized that if Faris came across them again that they would have to either fight him and Bisharp seriously or they would have to get caught in order to keep up appearances. Even so, it was difficult knowing they were fighting against an ally now.

They followed after Aamira, who did seem to have a sense of where to go here, as if she had done this before. Near the castle wall in the courtyard, she pushed against a part of the wall, which swung open revealing another passage like the one they had been through.

"How many passages are there around here?" Lucario asked.

"At least twelve, I would say." Aamira said. "Most old castles were built with secret passages to enable quick escapes in case of a sudden attack. A long time ago, everyone knew where these passages were because the countries were always in constant turmoil. In the last few centuries though, things have been so calm that there was no need for the passages and they were almost all forgotten. In the last few years though, I might have found a few…"

"You found this passage?" Lucario asked.

"Well I did used to be a spy for Zoroark, didn't I?" Aamira said. "I'm not going to bother looking back on it or regretting whatever I might have done. If I can remember my way around here, it will be putting that information to good use."

The way Aamira could figure out how to navigate the secret passages was impressive, though not always accurate. It seemed that her sense of direction was the same as how someone would walk somewhere they've been a hundred times before without even needing to know where they were going. Unfortunately, though she was able to figure out where all of the passages were, it usually got them going in the wrong direction. They usually ended up in places like secret meeting halls, throne rooms, guard barracks, and, strangely enough, the kitchen.

"The kitchen!?" Quill said as they backed away from the secret door that led to the inside of a spice cabinet.

Aamira laughed nervously and blushed a little. "I guess I got hungry a lot… I mean, I would probably be stuck in here for hours at a time, so of course I would… it's not like I probably snuck down here every ten minutes or so. That is… let's keep looking."

Quill and Lucario laughed and followed after her. Eventually, she found the way into a passage that led even deeper than the dungeons. With any luck, they would find their way beneath Daisy's cell and would be able to sneak her out through the floor in her cell. Strangely enough, all of the cells were abandoned.

"The dungeons here are usually only used for special cases. Prisoners of war, foreign spies, even outlaws trying to escape Neltona by crossing our borders."

"So you could say Daisy would be a prisoner of war." Lucario said. "Even so, the dungeons seem to be an obvious place to hold a prisoner when trying to set a trap. There are probably a whole bunch of Zoroark's special guards up there waiting for us."

"So Daisy's somewhere else." Quill said.

"Yea, but where?" Aamira said.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lucario said. "When exploring a dungeon, the other kind, of course, where would you normally find a valuable treasure or a strong dungeon boss? Not at the starting point, which in this place would be the bottom of the castle, but at the end. In this case, the top floor."

"In the keep, most likely." Aamira said. "Yea, it makes sense. That's the most protected area in the palace. Usually it's used to protect the king or queen whenever they visit here, or to protect a foreign guest. They'd probably hide her there somewhere."

"Any idea where to start?" Quill asked.

"The center tower. It's the tallest. I think there's a room hidden there somehow. She's probably there. I'm feeling a little apprehensive though. I'm not sure why…" Aamira thought for a moment, trying to place that apprehensive feeling. She found that if she could match up a familiar emotion to certain locations or actions that it helped her decide which way to go. "I think we have to leave the secret passages."

"Whatever's necessary!" Quill said. "We have to find her!"

There was another courtyard separating them from the keep. They had no choice but to run across it when Lucario assured them that no guards were around. It took about five minutes for them to all get across. By now it was night and they were lucky that it was now drizzling lightly, since there wasn't a moon for them to avoid.

Once they were all inside, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, after that they heard a growl from behind them. They turned to see who had spotted them and a small Houndoom with shiny blue fur and short horns walked towards them from out of the shadows.

The Houndoom looked like it was ready to pounce. Lucario readied an Aura Sphere and Quill flared up his fire, ready to attack if it pounced at them.

Aamira stood behind them, staring at the familiar Houndoom. She had seen this one once before in the last two years and didn't need her instinctual memories to figure out what to do in this situation. She put her fingers to her lips and gave a low whistle. The Houndoom's growl stopped and he raised his head, tilting his head to the side. The tip of his tail twitched excitedly, as though happy enough to wag his tail, and yet hesitant to do so.

"It's okay." Aamira said in a soft voice. "Come here, boy!"

The Houndoom barked happily and ran over to Aamira. His tail was now wagging quickly and he was staring up at Aamira expectantly.

"Er…" Aamira didn't know exactly what the Houndoom once, though she was just as taken back this time as she was before by how animal-like he acted. "Oh, do you… Are you hungry?"

The Houndoom barked again and bounded around the three of them in a playful sort of way.

"Who's this Houndoom?" Quill asked, obviously just as confused by behavior.

"His name's Blue. I raised him since he was a Houndour. I think that Zoroark wanted him to end up as my partner, since his Houndoom would technically be this one's superior. Even so, I don't think that desire lasted long. Zoroark didn't want me to think too freely in case I figured out what he was really like and tried to run off. Having a partner with the mindset of a common animal seemed beneficial at first, so he altered this one's mind somehow. After a while though, Blue started to see me more as his 'pack leader' than that other Houndoom, so the entire plan was ruined."

"How could he do that to a fellow pokemon?" Lucario asked.

"'Fellow pokemon'?" Aamira said bitterly. "Do you honestly think he sees himself as being on the same lower level as anyone else? Human, pokemon, to him it doesn't matter. He's a god and we're just a means of entertainment." She turned back to Blue and touched the tip of one of his horns. "Filed them down again, did they? Poor thing… Okay, boy. Go get the mousey! Go on. Where is it?"

Blue barked and bounded off ahead of them. They didn't like how he made so much noise, but if he knew the way, it was their best option. Luckily the guards around here seemed to be accustomed to the Houndoom running around the place and they didn't pay him too much attention. If Lucario ever sensed a guard up ahead, they would simply hide in a nearby room and let Blue distract them. After they passed by, they would continue following.

On the top floor, they followed Blue down a narrow hallway into a circular room. It seemed to be a dead end. There were no doors leading in other directions and not even any furniture.

"It led us to a dead end." Lucario said suspiciously.

"Maybe there's a secret passage?" Quill suggested, though he seemed equally suspicious.

Blue turned back towards them and growled. He wasn't growling at them though, but at the hall behind them. They turned to see their exit being blocked by the little Banette that they hadn't seen in years before this night.

"Daisy, what are you doing here?" Quill asked.

Daisy didn't speak, as usual, and yet she still seemed to be ignoring him. She was staring straight at Aamira with her arms crossed. Aamira's one good arm was hanging at her side, her hand clenched into a fist.

"I should have said something sooner…" Aamira said. "I ran away before. Twice. Afterwards, I was given a mission to go to Atra. Do you really think Zoroark would let me go alone and unsupervised?"

"You can't mean Daisy…" Lucario said, remembering the time that Daisy had once helped him to save Aamira's life. "There's no way… She was just a doll before, wasn't she?"

"Maybe, but then again, humans have been able to create artificial pokemon in the past. Zoroark is a master at it. She probably wasn't ever really a doll, just asleep, waiting for the time when I would try to turn my back on Zoroark. When she woke up the second time I came to Atra, it was most likely because she sensed something about me had changed. Not really physically, maybe, but she probably realized that I had done something to my memory."

"So Daisy was acting as a spy just like you were…" Quill said.

"I must have known too. At least, I must have figured it out at some point. I left Daisy behind in order to trick Mismagius into thinking I had been kidnapped, or at least that's what I wanted everyone to believe." Aamira smirked. "So it looks like my loyalty was shifting even back then, huh?"

Daisy balled up her hands into fists and stomped on the ground a couple of times. She seemed to be completely furious with her for doing this. At least it explained why she was in this world. After Aamira vanished from using Aura Restore on the Looking Glass, she must have run off to find her master and tell him what had happened.

"I can't believe this…" Quill said. "Espeon named my sister after her!"

Daisy made a motion that looked like a sign and shook her head. Without waiting for any of them to speak again, she attacked with Will-o-wisp. Aamira managed to jump back to avoid it and Quill didn't get burned since he was a fire type, but Lucario got a really bad burn across the back of his arms when he tried to block it. Seeing that her attack had hit Lucario, she followed up by attacking him with Hex.

Blue ran up behind Lucario and pushed him out of the way. Being a dark type, the attack didn't have any effect on him. Lucario attacked with Dragon Pulse and knocked her into the hall. Daisy got up and used Shadow Sneak to get behind Quill and attack him. Quill flared up the fire on his neck and lower back and Daisy backed off to avoid touching the flames. He turned towards her and attacked with Flamethrower.

Daisy fell to the ground near Blue and started to stand back up, but immediately stopped when Blue started growling.

"We have to go." Aamira said.

"But Daisy…" Quill said.

"It's a dead end." Lucario said. "We'll have to either come back later or keep looking while we run. Someone's coming, we have to go now."

Aamira had to pick Quill up and carry him, since he wasn't willing to leave on his own. There were tears in his eyes and he was trying his best to keep his fire down so he wouldn't burn Aamira, and yet there was a part of him that wanted to out of hope that she would drop him and he could go back to looking.

When they were finally out in the courtyard, they were surrounded by guards. Quite a few were chasing after them from inside the keep and the ones outside had noticed the disturbance and had rushed to corner the intruders. With Quill in a bad state, that left Lucario and Blue to fight off the guards and their partners. Blue seemed to be really timid and nervous around other pokemon, which left Lucario to do most of the fighting.

By this time it had started raining pretty hard. Quill wouldn't be able to help fight even if he wanted to. Eventually, somehow, Lucario and Blue had been able to knock out all of the guards and their pokemon, though they had to injure a few of them quite seriously in order to do it.

Soon there was only one left. He was holding his injured partner, a Raticate, in his arms and was now running away. Quill, who had finally had enough, squirmed out of Aamira's arms and chased after him, knocking him to the ground.

"Quill, that's enough!" Aamira said. "That one wasn't attacking us!"

Quill stared down at the human and the unconscious Raticate for a moment before stepping back. He wasn't ready to back off entirely though. He got down on all fours and flared up his fire, which in the rain looked like little more than a few sparks, and yet was still somehow really menacing.

"Where's my sister?!" Quill shouted at him.

"Your sister…" The guard said, seeming to understand what was going on now. "Okay, just calm down. You only had to ask, no need to get violent."

Quill extinguished his fire, but didn't lower his guard. "So where is she!? What has Xerxes done with her!?"

"He brought her here a few days ago, about a week I'd say. There's a secret room up in the tallest tower that can only be accessed by a hidden trap door." So their theory on Daisy's location had been right after all, they just hadn't looked hard enough. "Only a few people were told it was there and those people were assigned with guarding over the castle's keep and making sure the Cyndaquil there didn't escape. We were told that the Cyndaquil and her partner had been fugitives from Neltona and that they were going to hold her there until the border patrol found her partner. Xerxes believed that he might try to sneak in and rescue her from the dungeon, so she was hidden in that tower and we set up a trap in the dungeon and were told to arrest anyone without authorization who showed up there.

"I thought something was strange though." he said. "My Raticate went up there to deliver some food once and they ended up talking. She had some pretty strange stories, but she honestly didn't seem to know anything about Neltona or Dellevis or even Xerxes. She kept saying that she was kidnapped by his Houndoom and that her brother was going to come rescue her, but that just seemed so strange. It didn't make sense that Houndoom would do something like that."

"We've got to go back and rescue her!" Quill said.

"No, don't." the guard said. "You'll be wasting your time and you'll just end up getting caught. Just two nights ago, a boy showed up here in the dungeon. We thought he must have been her partner since he had come looking for her. After realizing that she wasn't in the dungeon, he ran to the keep. By the time the other guards had surrounded the keep, he was already gone and so was the Cyndaquil. He took out so many guards and their partners without the help of a pokemon… It was about the most terrifying thing I had ever seen."

"So she was rescued by someone else?" Quill asked. "Or was she just kidnapped by someone else?"

"I couldn't say." The guard said. "I thought for sure it must have been her partner though, since he had black hair like a lot of the folks from Neltona do. Although he did have those blue eyes, so I guess that's not necessarily a guarantee."

"I have white hair and red eyes." Aamira pointed out.

"Yes, and that's strange on its own. Who are all of you people?"

"Just one question." Aamira said. "If Daisy did escape, then why are there still so many guards around the keep?"

"It's that Banette. She can somehow communicate directly with Xerxes and he passed on an order through her to keep up the guard as usual in case someone else came through. None of us saw the point, but that Banette kept us from slacking on the job regardless. Guarding an empty keep though, it just seemed so pointless."

"Hang on, that Banette is mute, isn't she? How could she talk to Xerxes from such a long distance and be able to repeat his messages?" Lucario asked.

"Mute?" The guard said. "I think you must be mistaken. She doesn't talk a lot, but she does. She uses a basin of water to talk with Xerxes somehow. I think it must be some sort of ghost type ability."

Aamira's eyes widened. It had to be water from the Eye of the Moon. Somehow, Zoroark had found a way to use it as a means of communicating over large distances. But if that was true, then by now…

"We have to get out of here!" Aamira said to Lucario and Quill. "Daisy's not here, there's no reason to linger."

"Right." The two of them said, and ran off ahead. Aamira followed immediately after with Blue at her heels.

"Wait!" Aamira turned back and saw the guard getting back to his feet. He was staring at Aamira strangely, as though she seemed familiar to him. "It couldn't be… Destiny?"

Aamira thought for a moment about whether she should answer or not. In the end, she gave a short nod and turned to run after Quill and Lucario. The guard stood there, dumbfounded, and returned to the keep as soon as he finally regained his senses. He had no idea what was going on, but the one thing he was sure about was that he didn't like it. Just as he was heading back into the keep, his captain came running out with his Bisharp following behind.

Lucario turned to the sound of footsteps on water and muddy earth approaching from behind. He raised his arm just in time to block an attack from Bisharp with the spike on his paw, and knocked her back with an Aura Sphere from the other.

Bisharp was getting up, ready for another attack, but the guard they had interrogated earlier spoke up. "Stop! That's Destiny you're attacking!"

Bisharp looked towards Aamira and then back to her partner, as though trying to decide what to do. While the three of them seemed to be distracted though, the four of them had slipped into the secret passage and disappeared.

The four of them ran through the storm all night and it continued late into the morning. If Aamira ever started to tire out, Blue would let her ride on his back, which was almost just as tiring considering his horns were short and difficult to hold onto and she only had one hand to hold on with.

Eventually the rain stopped. The clouds were starting to thin and sun shone through a few cloudless patches in the sky. Stretched ahead of them were nothing but planes and a few patches of trees. They found a shady tree to sit and rest under. The leaves on the tree were so big that underneath it was completely dry in spite of the bad storm they had run through.

"He wasn't kidding about attacking us…" Quill said. "What are we supposed to do now? Meet up with him somewhere? Or keep running?"

"This might give us some options." Lucario said, handing a sealed envelope to Aamira. "Bisharp slipped this into my hand when she attacked me. I think she attacked me because we had fought before and she knew I would be able to block without her having to hold back. It's addressed to you, so you should open it."

"Not that it really matters." Aamira opened the envelope and Blue laid down next to her, resting his head in her lap just as any dog would. "It's definitely from Faris. It has his Captain of the Guard seal and his signature. 'If you got this letter, it means you escaped successfully, and hopefully Daisy was with you. I know our initial plan was to hide you in the Mirror Palace and to escort you to Neltona after a certain length of time, but obviously plans have changed since then. Obviously I won't be able to escort you as I'm now stuck here trying to keep up appearances. I've made arrangements for you to stay in Neltona with a close friend of mine for the time being. Enclosed in this letter is a map of the continent and the three main countries and directions to his estate. I'll be joining you as soon as I possibly can.'" Aamira stopped reading there and stared intently at the rest of the letter.

"So it looks like we at least have somewhere to go." Quill said. "Hopefully we can get a chance to rest and maybe get a good source of information to find out about that black-haired boy who either rescued or kidnapped Daisy."

"Whether she was rescued or kidnapped, you have to agree that it's better than being anywhere near Zoroark or that Houndoom." Lucario said as he looked over the map that was enclosed in the envelope. Quill nodded in agreement. Even if she had been taken with the intention of being kidnapped, he was somehow greatly relieved by this.

"No way!" Aamira shouted, making everyone jump, including Blue who raised his head off of her lap and stared at her, half curious and half terrified.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

Aamira was still staring intently at the letter, as if unable to believe whatever information it held. It took her a moment to speak, but when she did, it wasn't what they had expected. "Faris's friend is my uncle!"


	8. Chapter 8 Aamira's Story

The journey had taken them a few days of constant movement, but none of them had complained much. At night, provided that the clouds didn't hide the moon from sight as they usually did, Quill would dig them out a shelter in the ground for them to camp in. It was usually damp and hard to sleep at night, but other than that their morale had really improved over those few days.

They had been in Neltona for a while now and. Since Dellevan guards couldn't cross the border except during wars or when the king was invited for a visit, they finally had a chance to relax. They spent most of the time talking and catching up on things happening in their own worlds or, when they stopped to rest, Aamira would take some time to catch up on training with Lucario. Although the Lucario's form of martial arts was a difficult one to learn and the training was usually taxing, those few days had been fairly laid back.

"Reminds me of when we were fugitives for a time." Quill said. "It did get really lonely though. I wonder how everyone's doing back home…"

"I'm sure they're fine. Espeon's probably worried, but she knows you can take care of yourself." Aamira said.

Eventually the large plane had turned into gently rolling prairies with mountains far in the distance and more villages started to pop up along the way. It felt strange to Aamira to be able to walk through a town and not have to worry about being recognized. Anyone she talked to seemed more interested in her white hair than her red eyes for a change. Of course, red eyes were normal for Neltona.

"So let's see if I've got this straight." Lucario said. "Human appearance seems to vary most in the eyes and hair. In Dellevis, the typical combination is white hair and blue eyes, while in Neltona the typical combination is black hair and red eyes. Then the people from Dargan usually have dark brown hair and yellow eyes, but they're the only ones with dark skin."

"Right for the most part." Aamira said. "Of course those patterns aren't always true. The General, for example, had blonde hair, though she still had the same typical blue eyes. Brown hair in general seems to be common too. I've heard people in the Coccona Islands have red hair and green eyes typically. The strange thing about humans though is that, depending on the area, certain combinations seem to be favored. In Neltona its black hair and red eyes, and in Dellevis its white hair and blue eyes."

"What about Dargan?" Quill asked.

"Well their eye and hair color are always pretty much the same, though it might be that the hair might be darker or the eyes might have more of a green or orange tint to them. Other than that, they tend to be fairly similar in that aspect. Instead, they favor darker skin."

"Darker skin?" Lucario said.

"Well according to their legends, their country's founder had skin as black as coal. It's also a common stereotype in other countries that Dargonians with darker skin tend to have more treasures. The mountains in the area are filled with gemstones, but no one knows where to find them other than the Dargonians, since they live in that area."

"Humans are weird." Quill said. "I mean I know there are little myths about pokemon that don't make much sense, like how Whiscash can cause earthquakes just by moving their whiskers or how Absol bring natural disasters, when they actually sense them and attempt to warn people about them, but the human's beliefs don't seem to make much sense."

"They do if you can trace back to the myth's origin." Aamira was turning the map over, trying to find the best route to the little farming town where her uncle lived. "Apparently there was some sort of crystalline sphere that had once been used to seal Shadow Lugia, sort of like the Pure Quartz. It was crafted by a Dargonian with dark skin, so it's possible that this could be where the stereotype originated. Although there are a lot of gemstones in the mountains that they use in place of currency in hard times. This is getting ridiculous." Aamira folded up the map in frustration and put it back in her knapsack.

"How much farther?" Lucario asked.

"Well it doesn't look that far on the map, but with all of these hills it's still going to take some time to get there. That's what's so frustrating. I'd rather just be told the direction and the approximate travel time rather than have to follow a map. I'm really missing being able to run across several mountain ranges in one day…"

"Oh I've been meaning to ask." Quill said. "Are there any dungeons in this world?"

"There are, but they're pretty rare. There are probably only a handful in the entire world. We call the dungeons in this world 'dominions' since they're usually the domains of powerful pokemon, usually legendaries. They're pretty odd though. Sometimes a dominion's location will shift every now and then or it will only be possible to get into one on a certain night, like with Darkrai's home in the lake. The entrance is usually really well hidden and a lot of myths and legends spring up from them. Some people think that a dominion can only be accessed after meeting a certain requirement or having a strong enough desire to get into a specific one. There are also stories that only a chosen hero can get into certain dominions."

"So there are specific ones that people know about?" Lucario asked.

Aamira nodded. "Throughout every human nation and in most pokemon legends too there are stories about a paradise. It's usually filled with endless fields, unlimited food, and water cascading down everywhere you look. Some people think that there's an amazing treasure deep inside of that paradise that makes it so beautiful. Of course that makes some people think it's hidden somewhere far to the north of Dargan."

"It sounds more like where Latias and Latios live." Quill said. "Actually since their island was once an oasis and it move location, couldn't that technically count as a dominion?"

Aamira nodded, but was distracted by Blue, who had been walking some distance ahead of them, stopped and turned to look behind them. On the road off in the distance was a cart being drawn by a black and white striped pokemon. The human riding in the front of the cart seemed to be half asleep and didn't seem to even notice them.

"Excuse me!" Aamira ran up to the pokemon and it slowed to a stop in front of her. "Are you heading to Granville?"

The person sitting in front of the cart looked up for the first time. Aamira assumed he was a farmer living some distance from the city and was heading there to sell some of the hay bales he was hauling with him. "And for what reason are you heading to Granville?"

"We're on our way to see Lord Ulrich." Aamira said.

The old man on the cart tilted his hat and avoided looking at her. "Then bother someone else or walk." The black and white pokemon glared in their direction and wrinkled up his nose in disgust before speeding off without even waiting for directions.

Aamira watched them speed off ahead, feeling somewhat confused. Travelers with better means never denied aid to other fellow travelers without good reason. It's not as if their load was very heavy, so their added weight wouldn't have been an issue. It would have added the bonus of a few bodyguards too, since there was still a good distance between here and their destination.

"What was his problem?" Lucario asked.

"I don't know, but it was extremely rude of them just to rush off like that!" Aamira half shouted. "We'd better keep moving if we want to make it there by nightfall."

Unfortunately they weren't so lucky. It had started to rain just as they crossed over the next few hills and they decided to make camp. Making a burrow as they had before never kept them completely dry, but it was better than sitting out in the storm, especially now that they were deeper into the country and the lightning was more intense.

Aamira had been forced to disregard most of her old fears when she first came back to her world. She had been through several thunderstorms with no trouble. Most of them she had been able to sleep through, if the situation allowed it. Neltonan thunderstorms were something else though. One night there hadn't been a single drop of rain, just constant thunder and lightning that shook the ground. Aamira had been startled by it the first time, but it hadn't been too bad. Now that this was maybe the third or fourth storm, she had reverted back to bracing herself after each roar of thunder and shaking as if struck by a sudden fever every time lightning lit up the sky.

Blue stayed right next to her the whole time, even letting her wrap her arms around his neck so tightly that it nearly strangled him. She was so glad that he was there, even if it brought back unpleasant thoughts about what her past must have been like.

None of them got any sleep that night, but none of them were really tired in the morning, so they set off immediately for Granville. It was around noon when they finally got there. Compared to other cities they had seen so far, this one was fairly large, even though it was still a lot smaller than Hearthlan. It seemed to be based on farming and trading like most other cities they had been to. The only difference was the large manor off in the distance that was their destination.

"So how did your uncle end up living in a rival country?" Quill asked.

"I had no idea I even had an uncle." Aamira said. "Well I might have heard mention of it, but I guess I assumed that, considering how things usually go, that he was dead. I think the way it works is that the abilities of Aura Readers are passed down only to one child. At some point the Aura Reader parent loses their abilities and sometime after it shows up in one of their children. That one becomes the next king or queen and any other siblings do whatever they want. It was probably part of some sort of diplomatic arrangement and he married a Lady from this country."

"So there's always just one human Aura Reader then." Lucario said.

"Not necessarily. There were old noble families that it used to show up in, but they were never as gifted as anyone in the royal line. They've all long since died out though. So unless I want to have kids someday, I'll be the last human Aura Reader."

"You would kind of have to though, wouldn't you?" Quill asked. "Since you would be the queen eventually, I mean."

Aamira laughed. "You really think that Zoroark's going to let me take his throne? He's been controlling monarchs from the shadows for so long, why would he want to go back to that after finally gaining control for himself? As I understand it, he was trying to make it a point that I wouldn't be able to inherit the throne without a partner, but that was really only as a precaution in case word somehow got out that I really did come back. Unless that happened he would just pretend that I was still missing."

They arrived at the front door of the manor only a few minutes later. While they were glad to finally have a chance to stop and rest, Aamira hesitated when they stopped in front of the door. Had she ever even met her uncle before? Suddenly it felt as if they were on another dangerous mission. Quill was trying to look through a window to see if anyone was inside and Lucario was staring at a ghost ornament hanging from the eaves of the house that resembled a Shuppet.

"Well what are you waiting for?" The three of them looked up to see a black, yellow, and white pokemon sitting in the window sill. "Aren't you going to knock? Ah, never mind. Hey, Ul!" The little pokemon stretched her arms revealing yellow membranes underneath and glided back inside the window.

"Have we seen a pokemon like that before?" Quill asked.

"Have we?" Aamira thought she recognized it from somewhere, but it could have just been another of its kind in her world.

Before they could ponder it much longer, a man who they took to be Aamira's uncle opened the door. He didn't look too old, but seemed to be aging quicker than normal as if under a large amount of stress. He was holding a young girl in his arms, no older than five at the most, and the pokemon that had been on the window was now sitting on one of his shoulders.

"Ah, you're finally here!" He said with a somewhat relieved smile. "I was afraid you would have had trouble on the road. I'm your uncle, Ulrich. Just call me Ul though. Well don't just stand out there; come on in."

Blue didn't hesitate for a moment. As soon as Ul stepped away from the door, he ran inside. Aamira glanced nervously between Quill and Lucario and the three of them walked inside. Immediately she was hit with the usual awkward feeling that she was intruding in a stranger's house. It was a really nice house actually, but that's what made it seem strange, after traveling for the past two weeks or so. How long would she have to stay here?

"We'll have to see if we can find someone to do something about that arm of yours." Ul said. "Emolga, would you?"

"Got it." Emolga jumped off of his shoulder and flew through an open window.

Aamira had truthfully forgotten about her arm. It had healed somewhat on its own and she didn't have to use a sling anymore, but it still hurt a lot if she tried to move it too much or if she twisted her arm a certain way. She had gotten used to holding it a certain way, which must have given away the injury.

They sat in the living room for a while in silence. Blue had taken an immediate liking to Ul and was letting Ul pet him behind the horns. Even so, Ul seemed just as awkward as any of them was. The girl in his arms had gone to play in the back yard apparently, leaving them alone. The most awkward thing about this was that Aamira couldn't help staring at him. Ever since becoming a human again, she had spent as much time in front of a mirror that wasn't the Reflecting Mirror as she possibly could, trying to get used to her own appearance. It was so strange being able to look at a complete stranger and be able to pick out all of the similar features, aside from the obvious white hair.

"I'm sorry if I seem a little less than hospitable right now." Ul said. "Dinner's running a little late today. Seeing you kind of startled me too I guess. I had heard that your eyes were blue. I didn't expect you to look so much like her…"

'He's talking about my mom.' Aamira realized. "What was she like?"

For the first time since they had met, Aamira recognized something like pity in his gaze. "It's a shame that you of all people would never get to know her. Anything I said could never do her justice. I expect you heard about how she met Victini? And the crowning ceremony?" Aamira nodded. Just as Faris said, whenever someone mentioned the greatest queen of Dellevis, they mentioned her coronation.

"I won't pretend that she was the most perfect person in the world." He said. "She' had a mischievous side, if you could believe it. Acted just as you'd expect a younger sibling to act. Like the time she stole my journal and read it to all of the guards. Or when she convinced the cooks that I was on a special all-berry diet. I'll never figure out how she managed that."

Aamira finally managed a smile. After hearing so often how her mother was such a great person, it was good to hear she had a mischievous side.

"Ah, maybe I should show you around before dinner is finished. Not everything all at once, of course. I'll show you to the room where you'll be sleeping. It's not much, I'm afraid, but I wouldn't want the wrong people finding out that you're here, so it's well hidden."

"Alright." Aamira said.

Quill seemed as nervous as Aamira was about talking with her Uncle. Why was that? Of course, if Aamira still saw him as her younger brother, like he knew she did, then that would make him his uncle too. Somehow. Having a human for an uncle seemed weird though. 'But Aamira's a human.' He reminded himself. "Do… Do you have somewhere for us to stay too?"

Ul didn't even seem surprised that he could understand Quill. "Yes of course. Faris managed to send me a message a few days ago to let me know you were coming. There are three beds set up. I'm afraid your room is only accessible by a ladder, so the Houndoom might have trouble getting up. I made him a bed out in an unused grain silo out back, since he would be easily recognized."

Quill didn't see any flaws in this plan, so he went along with it. Ul led them up to the top floor to the end of what appeared to be a dead end hallway and pulled on the old torch bracket on the wall. A trap door above them slid open and a ladder dropped to their feet noiselessly. It seemed he had oiled the hinges before they had gotten there to be on the safe side.

They climbed the ladder into the attic and looked around. There were three beds, as he had said, all of various sizes. It seemed that he had given them the smaller beds that his own kids had once used before outgrowing them. Aamira's was the only full sized one, but she had a feeling it was still among one of the smallest in the houses. Still, for the tiny attic, they fit well and they were just big enough for all of them.

"You can open and close the trap door by using the lever here by the door." Ul said. "It can be opened from up here or from the floor below, so don't worry about getting stuck in here. There were some problems with it in the past, but they've all been fixed."

Aamira was just barely paying attention. She had noticed something laying on her bed and went to investigate it. When she picked up the dusty old picture frame, she nearly dropped it in surprise. At first, she had taken it to be a picture of her, but then she realized that it must have been a much younger Anima. Aside from Anima's longer black hair and the scars on Aamira's temple, they looked identical. She had her arms wrapped around a boy who seemed to be several years older than her and wishing he could be anywhere but there at that moment.

"Ah, this place was a mess before I cleaned it up." Ul said. "I don't know what that was doing up here; I didn't think I had any photos left. I thought that you might like to see it. It sure makes me smile every time I see it."

"That's you?" Aamira asked, indicating the older boy that Anima was hugging.

Ul laughed. "Yea. I really did love my sister, even if I didn't act like it at times. Maybe that's why it always makes me smile when I see it. You can keep it though. I think you should at least know your own mother's face, even if it's a much younger one."

Quill and Lucario thought that Aamira would be thrilled by this, but something seemed strange. Almost grudging. Ul seemed to notice it too. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I think you should keep it." Aamira said. "If the reason is so I can recognize her face, I don't think you'll have to worry about that." she turned to him with the obvious intention of him getting a good look at her own face.

"There is one difference though." Ul said. "She's smiling in that picture, if you hadn't noticed."

Aamira's grip tightened around the picture. Ul walked back towards the ladder. "You'll probably want some time to settle in. I'll call for you when dinner's done." He climbed down the ladder and closed the trap door behind him.

"Is something wrong?" Lucario asked.

"Of course there is." Aamira said. "I came to this world looking for my mother only to find out that she died shortly after I was born. You know, I bet no one in her family ever knew that she had been the incarnation of a pokemon. Why should I get to know her face when it's not even hers? Why should I even get to know my own when it's not mine?"

The two of them were quiet, not sure what they should say. It seemed almost instinctual the way Ul had left right before Aamira went off like that.

Aamira sighed. "Maybe it's because of the amnesia. All I could remember was being a pokemon and now I just feel so powerless. And to know I'm actually supposed to be a pokemon, but that I'm not… I don't know what it means."

"Can you remember Mew telling you anything about this?" Lucario asked.

"No. I should have turned back into a Riolu the second I got my soul back." Aamira said.

"And there's no other reason?" Quill asked. "I mean it's not as if you know everything about a soul, right? Even if it is your own. I doubt Mew does either, so maybe there was something that happened that he didn't count on happening."

"Could it be… Destiny?" Lucario knew that Aamira hated her old name, but it wasn't her name anymore. That name belonged to an entirely different entity now.

"Maybe…" Aamira seemed to calm down quite a bit. Maybe it was possible. Destiny was still loyal to Zoroark, or at least Aamira assumed she would be since she hadn't seen her since the Other world. Wouldn't she want to make Aamira as weak as possible? Could she do something like that?

Since there was nothing else for them to do for the time being, the three of them decided to take a quick nap before dinner. It felt like they had only been asleep for a few seconds when Ul came up the trap door to wake them up. They had slept for a full half an hour, but they were still tired from traveling.

The scene downstairs was complete chaos. There were four kids, ages ranging from around five to twelve, running around three with pokemon while Ul tried his best to calm them down for dinner. The dining room was big, which was a slight upside since it meant the chance for injury was less likely, but it made it more difficult to catch all of them. Eventually a woman who they assumed was Ul's wife and the childrens' mother came into the dining room carrying a large chicken and several side dishes.

The transformation happened in an instant. All of the kids were sitting at the table and everything had suddenly gone quiet.

Ul laughed. "That's Pam's cooking for you. She had a feeling the three of you would be showing up, so she made a larger dinner tonight."

"It's nice to finally meet my niece." Pam said to Aamira. Her smile faded almost instantly as she noticed Lucario. "What's wrong with your friend?"

Aamira looked over at Lucario who had his paws clenched into fists. He was staring at the chicken and drooling slightly.

"Oh I was worried this would happen." Aamira said. "Lucario was raised a vegetarian, but since his species is a mainly carnivorous one, I don't think he can really handle the smell of cooked meat."

"W-Wait, hang on." Quill said. "Humans are carnivores?"

"Omnivores." Pam said, indicating several plates filled with various vegetables.

"Oh don't worry, humans don't eat pokemon." Aamira said to Quill. "You should know that your species is technically an omnivorous one too."

Even though Aamira thought that this dinner was the best she had eaten so far since returning to her world, Quill and Lucario kept hoping it would end sooner. Lucario couldn't understand why the smell of cooked meat affected him like this when the smell of raw meat had been so appalling. Both he and Quill had to struggle to keep their eyes on their own food, consisting entirely of vegetables and a couple different types of breads, to avoid watching everyone else eating theirs. Aamira, in fact, ate nearly half of the chicken on her own. Luckily it wasn't the only one Pam had cooked, since she had planned on their being a large dinner that night.

"How could you eat so much of… it?" Lucario asked.

"Are you kidding?" Aamira asked. "I haven't eaten meat in months! I'll never understand why Dargonians with their plentiful supply of meat would spend so much money on vegetables. Especially during this time of year. And before that I spent two years in Quill's world on a strictly vegetarian diet, not that there was anything else to eat, and any meat I might have eaten before that I can't remember!"

"Well that's nice, but you really should try to eat some more greens." Pam said.

Aamira groaned and picked at the broccoli on her plate. Aamira hadn't eaten much more than this while in Dargan and she was really getting sick of it by now. This seemed funny to Quill though. What was it that Daisy had said right before he left on the mission to fight Houndoom? Something about how she really liked vegetables. It was true too. Why would he be remembering this of all things? Why now? Maybe because both of his sisters seemed so different. And yet he had a feeling that they could become great friends after they finally met.

"So it's true that you've lost your memory, then?" Ul asked.

Aamira nodded. It seemed like lately that was all anyone was ever asking her. At least the people she had apparently once known. Or had she? It was a strange question to ask, but she felt like she had to. "Have we ever met before now?"

"No, this is the first time." He said. "I wish I could have met you before, I really do. I doubt that even back then you knew I existed though. There was always some excuse for why I wasn't able to go back to Dellevis, even for a short visit. I think that Zoroark was trying to cut you off from any remaining family you had."

This got the attention of all three of them. So Ul knew about Zoroark. Usually when around other humans they would have to refer to him as "Xerxes" in order to not make people suspicious or to scare people. It was their one and only chance of getting on their good side. Immediately telling them that their beloved king was a pokemon, even if they tried to make it sound like it was a pokemon impersonating the real king, would have just immediately made them sound more suspicious. So what did it mean if Ul already knew this?

"I'll show you how I know in the morning. You're all obviously exhausted." Was all he would say on the matter.

It was true that they were exhausted. After finally having the chance to relax, they noticed it for the first time. It didn't matter how exhausted they felt though; for the first time in weeks it felt as though they were safe. Normally any of them would be reluctant to intrude upon someone else's hospitality for too long without some sort of payment in return, even if this was Aamira's aunt and uncle, but for once this wasn't the case.

Emolga returned with an Audino who lived in the area shortly after dinner. He fixed Aamira's arm up in a split second with his Heal Pulse, though he explained that it might still hurt off and on over the next few hours while the trickier parts of the muscle repaired itself. It was a huge relief though and it was barely even noticeable compared to how it had been before.

When the time for them to go to sleep came, Quill found that he wasn't able to. 'It's the chicken…' he thought. That had really opened his eyes to how different humans and pokemon were. Well no, they weren't. Pokemon in this world ate meat too, or at least some of them did. No, it wasn't the difference in species that was making it difficult to sleep, in was the difference in their two worlds. Suddenly he was having flashbacks of the time they had stayed in Atra under the hospitality of Aamira's other Aunt, Mismagius.

He couldn't stand it anymore. Quill crawled out of his bed and jumped into Aamira's. Somehow he wasn't all that surprised to find that she was awake too, though he was partially surprised when he noticed that she was quickly hiding something under her pillow. It wasn't hard to guess that it was the picture of Ul and Anima. It had gotten too dark to see it, but he had the suspicion that she had stared at it long after the sun went down.

"Can't sleep either?" Quill asked as he curled up next to her, pretending not to have noticed.

"I don't like it here." Aamira admitted. "There's only one window and it doesn't open."

This seemed strange to Quill at first, but then Aamira explained and it seemed perfectly reasonable. The room she had first woken up in when she returned to this world was covered in dust from two years of never being used. Only the bed was clean, though she didn't know why. That room at least had a large glass window spanning an entire wall that opened up onto a balcony.

Shortly after she had woken up, Zoroark found her, still disguised as Xerxes at the time. Mew's plan to use a special seal to block out her memories from her time as a pokemon didn't go over well. Zoroark noticed it right away and was able to break through it. As it turned out, Zoroark's method of breaking a seal wasn't nearly as pleasant as the way Aura Readers could "release" a seal. The best way Aamira could think to describe how it felt was a couple of large spikes being driven into her temples. After that the pain off all of those memories coming back at once gave her such a bad migraine that it made her extremely ill for nearly a whole week.

The only good thing that came out of that was that Aamira could remember the mission that Mew had given her. It wasn't difficult for her to figure out that Zoroark was the one he wanted her to spy on. In that first week alone, it seemed like all of Zoroark's actions justified everything that mew had ever done to them. She had become fully dedicated to that mission.

More horrors would come after though. Zoroark was in search of a key of sorts, which he was certain that Aamira and Aamira alone knew the location of. Aamira would sometimes hint that she did and other times tell the truth in saying that she didn't. None of this satisfied Zoroark at all, of course, which was why he started making her use the Reflecting Mirror. Whether she already knew the location of this key or not, that mirror would make it difficult for her to resist telling him where it was. Once she saw something in the mirror, it was almost impossible for her to resist talking about it. In spite of the terrible eye strain that led to more terrible migraines, she managed to persist for a while, unfazed.

Physical pain wasn't the only kind their was though, something any Zoroark would know. He had done some terrible things to her before, things that he relished in the fact that she could no longer remember which gave him every excuse to go into great detail. The story about how he had become the king and had killed her mother and about how he had once started a fire that had killed one of the two friends that Aamira used to have, leaving the remaining one to blame her for it… Those two were the worst. He had told her about many of the horrific deeds he had committed, but those two were his favorite and Aamira could now recite them by heart.

The worst of it was not knowing what would come next. She had been moved from her bedroom, which had been the room she originally woke up in, to another room in the central part of the castle. The room was a decent size, though still a lot smaller than the one she had originally been in. It was almost pitch black in there at night, aside from the small amount of light that came in through a tiny and dusty stained-glass window near the top of the wall. At one point the window had been broken and had to be boarded up, which Aamira was more than certain had been done on purpose. After that no light ever reached into the room and Aamira could sit in there for hours or days without knowing how much time had passed.

At one point, she had managed to find the door after becoming extremely disoriented from being locked in that room for days. There had been something laying on the ground, possibly a nail that had come loose from the boards that were blocking the window. She managed to use it to pick the lock and escape from the room. Her feet carried her automatically, as they had through the Mirror Palace, as her residual memories told her where to go. She managed to get outside and into the forest before she was finally cornered by several members of the Alphas, including Houndoom. Houndoom burnt the bottoms of her feet, making it impossible for her to go any further, and returned to the castle, leaving her there.

It must have been hours before the guards finally found her. They had assumed that she had been attacked by a wild pokemon, since there were numerous fire types that lived in her country. Her feet were healed up quickly, though the toxins in a Houndoom's fire were especially bad for humans. Any human who ever got burned by a Houndoom's fire would find that the pain would never go away, even long after the scars had healed. This was Zoroark's way of saying that she would never be able to run from him. The reason she knew this was because he had told her this himself.

Her will had majorly started to weaken after this. It was possible that her first attempt to escape was proof that it already had been, since she had been committed to staying before that. She found a second strength, though, in Faris and Bisharp. It was such a relief to not be all alone for once, even if she still had to endure the many lonely hours either with Zoroark or locked in that dark room.

Her will would continue to weaken gradually after that though. During the time she was there, she had let slip three pieces of information. One was about the red moon that had appeared on the night she had been born, which she saw once in the Reflecting Mirror. The other two were Lucario's name and a description of Quill's appearance. Lucario's name had proven not to be crucial information, since Zoroark had known that Aamira had been in Atra and he knew that there were Lucario living there. There was also nothing special about the red moon on the night of her birth. It was the description of Quill that had been the dangerous part.

"He got especially mad that night, because I had stopped speaking for days at a time. That was the night he lost his temper and gave me these scars and took out a piece of my ear." Quill hadn't realized it until Aamira mentioned it, but it was true that there was a small piece of her ear that was missing, right above the earring she wore that was made of Leuminite. "After that I broke down almost completely. I didn't even realized what I had told him until afterwards. That's when I organized an escape with the help of Faris and Bisharp."

Quill knew what happened after that. She had rushed to the lake to meet Victini and had stopped to soak her feet in the water. Her feet were no doubt still hurting from Houndoom's toxins even then. After that the Alphas managed to find her and chased her to the edge of the cliff, where she jumped onto a Staraptor's back to escape. Victini used his fire to knock out the first few bird pokemon that gave chase, but any others that had managed to follow her were probably too far out of his range. That gradual building fear that Quill had felt whenever he had this nightmare, whenever the bird pokemon had chased Aamira… he finally understood what it was. Zoroark did everything he could to make her believe that there was no way for her to escape. After a year and a half, Aamira had started to believe it.

"I'm sorry." Aamira jumped when she heard Lucario's voice coming from the bed next to hers. She had been facing in his direction, but he had been laying with his back turned to her. She had no idea that he had been awake that entire time.

'But of course he was. Lucario doesn't need to sleep. He's not used to the Dragon Force either, so he probably can't on most nights.' Aamira took a deep breath, trying to recover from the initial shock. Retelling her story to Quill had put her into a slight state of panic. "What are you sorry about?"

"It's because of me that you came to this world." Lucario said. "I thought that if you could at least find out about your past or if you could at least meet your mother that you would be happy. I thought that you would regret it if you passed up the chance to come back, to at least find out who you used to be even if you didn't like who you were before. I had manipulated you into coming here by starting that argument with you before."

Aamira wrapped her arms tighter around Quill. "I know you did." Then she thought for a moment about that terrible time with Zoroark. Even that couldn't outweigh all of the fun she later had playing with Felix and Sneasel, or talking with Bisharp and Faris when she had the chance. Now to find out that she had an aunt and an uncle and that she had four cousins whose names she didn't even know yet. There was an even greater reason though. As she had told Faris only a few days ago, Zoroark was sure to have more than one plan. If Aamira hadn't returned, no one would have known that Zoroark was planning anything at all. "I don't regret coming here. Not at all."

They were quiet for a minute, in the dark room. Aamira noticed that the one big difference was that this time she wasn't alone in this room. Sleeping here suddenly seemed a lot more possible.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I'm just curious." Lucario said after a while. "What exactly did you see in the mirror?" Quill's ear twitched as he lay curled up next to Aamira. He thought for a moment that this question was really insensitive considering all of the things Aamira had just told them. Then he had to admit that Lucario's question had made him curious too.

Quill looked up into Aamira's face to see what her response was to this and, to his surprise, she was smiling. "I saw the two of you." She said. "I think that the Reflecting mirror only ever shows someone what they really want to see. At first I didn't even realize that I even wanted to see anything. After days of seeing you two in the mirror though, I realized that I did. The entire time I could only think one thing, 'what are my friends doing now?' So I watched through the mirror the whole time. I saw the day when Daisy hatched when we were still in the Other world. I saw other things that we had done in the past. I was able to see things that were currently happening too. The day you first became the ambassador of Atra, the day that Aron evolved, and that one time when Quill was babysitting Daisy and her Mudkip friend and she had started chasing him around for eating the last Oran berry.

"I saw other people too; Roy and the other members of Team Sandstone, Charmeleon, who I never actually got to see after he evolved into Charizard, Ambipom and Primeape, and a few others. I know how it must sound, like I've been spying on the two of you from the beginning while you had no idea what was happening in my world. Even so, I feel like it kept me sane through most of the time."

Quill wrapped his arms tightly around one of Aamira's. He started to pull away for a moment after realizing it had been her injured one, but apparently it had finished healing by this point because Aamira didn't even move. None of them could think of anything else to say, only reflect on the things that Aamira had said over the past couple of hours. Aamira felt a lot better now that she had finally told someone about everything that had happened. Quill and Lucario both felt better now too somehow. Maybe just the knowledge that they had somehow managed to help Aamira, or that they finally knew everything that had happened to her in that time. Whatever the reason, they could finally get some sleep.


	9. Chapter 9 The Rebellion

The three of them woke up a lot later than they were used to. By the time they opened their eyes, it was almost noon. Rather than going downstairs to eat with everyone else, Aamira started to go outside to look around a little.

"But aren't you hungry?" Quill asked her.

Aamira shook her head. "In Dargan people will sometimes go for days just eating small amounts of food after a big meal. I've gotten so used to it that I'm not hungry at all after dinner last night."

They had a large back yard to match their manor, which provided a lot of places to explore. Right outside of the back door, there was a large garden with a pool in the center. Thinking back on it, Aamira hadn't been swimming in over two years now. Even so, swimming in a country frequented by lightning storms, even if this was one of the rare sunny days, seemed like a bad idea.

Behind the garden was a small farm that they kept. There were a few rows of vegetables that seemed to be doing fairly well in spite of the constant rain that would normally drown any other plants. Near by was a chicken coop filled with a bunch of the lazy birds that seemed to have no idea that they would soon be eaten, though the hens were probably safe as long as they kept laying eggs.

Aamira turned away to explore the rest of the yard, but turned back almost instantly at the sound of the chickens' frenzied clucking and flapping wings. Inside the chicken coop was a purple cat-like pokemon that was pouncing at all of the chickens within range. Aamira was about to step in to stop it when she realized that the cat didn't seem to want to hurt them, just chase them around a little bit.

After the cat was finally tired, as were the chickens, it crawled out from a hole at the bottom of the fence and sat at Aamira's feet, wagging its tail in a mischievous way.

"The lazy things should get some exercise, you know." The cat said as she licked her paws clean.

"Why do you care if they get exercise or not?" Aamira asked. "It's not as if you're going to eat them."

"Could be that I will be." The cat said. "You know that boy that lives in this house? Looks promising, doesn't he? Or maybe it's just me."

"You mean you're his partner?"

The cat pokemon laughed. "Probably. I should think so at least. Of course, no one really knows for sure right away, do they? Only the human partner would know for sure when they look into their partner's eyes for the first time. It's only after they realize it for sure that the pokemon does."

Aamira thought that it was strange that this pokemon didn't think twice about talking to her. Maybe just the fact that she was a Purrloin that was so unnerving. Conversing with a pokemon like this usually wasn't a good idea, but Aamira felt that this one was different than most. Thinking about it now though, she realized that most pokemon didn't think twice about talking to her. It was almost as if they knew that she would be able to understand her, though she hadn't questioned it until now.

The Purrloin jumped up onto the low garden wall behind the chicken coop and curled up to lay in the sun. Aamira followed her, thinking that this pokemon might help her figure this out.

"How did you know that I would be able to hear you?" Aamira asked.

Purrloin smirked and opened one eye partially. "Well how do you know that I can't talk to all humans?"

"Because your voice sounds like other pokemon's. If you could talk to all humans, your voice would sound different. Instead it sounds like a purring sound."

"Ah so you can still hear us the way most humans can but you can understand us? I had wondered how it must have sounded to you."

"Well you didn't have to manipulate me into saying it. You could have just asked how I hear you." Aamira said crossly. "Yea you sound the same way to me as any other human, but I can still hear you. I don't know how to describe it. But how did you know that I could hear you?"

Purrloin sighed and wagged her tail lazily over the edge of the stone wall. "Because everyone knows it. It's not difficult to figure out. In the same way you can't explain how you hear pokemon, no pokemon could explain how they know you can hear us. If there is any reason, it's probably because of your scent."

"My scent?" Aamira asked.

"You smell like a human, but there's an underlying smell, like some sort of pokemon. Most humans are around many pokemon and you don't seem to be any different, but that scent isn't one that's just rubbed off on you, it's your own. You smell like a pokemon to any pokemon who would pay enough attention, therefore we would assume that you would be able to hear us."

"Doesn't make much sense to me." Aamira admitted. It was interesting knowing that she had some sort of underlying pokemon scent, not that she had ever known that humans had a distinct scent from pokemon, but how would that let a pokemon know that she could hear them?

"Or maybe it's the noise you make." The Purrloin continued. "You move so silently and delicately, as if afraid of hurting even the smallest bug by treading on it, and yet it's obvious there's more power in you than that. Any human without that sort of strength would be exceedingly clumsy if they tried to move as silently as you do."

'I move silently…? Well that make even less sense than my scent!' Aamira was starting to get the impression that this Purrloin was just playing her for a fool and trying to waste her time for a couple of laughs.

The Purrloin did seem genuinely curious about this now and seemed to be trying her hardest to figure this out. "Maybe it's your eyes." Now this, somehow, made sense. "A lot of humans have red eyes but yours just look… different. As if they can somehow see things more clearly than most humans. As if they can see a pokemon."

"What do you mean by that?" Aamira asked.

"How many pokemon do you know who can become a council member on their own? Or who can open their own business or raise their own farm animals? It's not because we don't know how, I can assure you of that. There's just no need to for us unless we have a partner. Most humans think of pokemon as being less intelligent, excluding their own pokemon of course. But you're different. It's like you can see us. When looking at your eyes they just don't look the same way as another human's. They don't loot at us the same way as another human's. Maybe it's that, the way you move, how you smell, and even the sound of your voice that makes you seem less human, even if you would look like a human to any other human. There's something about that which makes pokemon want to talk to you or even protect you if we can."

"Protect me?" Thinking back on it, the Staraptor who had carried her to Dargan had only glimpsed her briefly when she had been running away from the Alphas when she first escaped. She didn't know what she was expecting to happen when she had whistled after jumping off the edge of the cliff; she had just been trying to get someone's attention. Sure enough, that Staraptor appeared. Then there was the hyperactive little Pidove who seemed to be so willing to help her in any way that he could, even if it was just carrying messages to Victini. The Woobat too, who would watch for trouble at night, seemed eager to help after she had asked.

"Why do pokemon want to protect me?" Aamira asked.

Purrloin shrugged. "Not sure. It just feels like something good will happen if we do. Most pokemon know who you are, Dellevan heir, but no one knows anything about you. Come to think of it, there was someone else who was like that too. He lives around here somewhere. His eyes are unusual too."

Aamira was about to ask who she meant when her uncle came running up to the pokemon. Purrloin hissed and jumped to the other side of the wall and ran off to the distant forest that surrounded the mountain.

"That little thief." Ul grumbled irritably. "Stole another three eggs from the chicken coop."

"She—" Aamira looked at the spot where Purrloin had disappeared over a nearby hill and then back towards the chicken coop. "But I didn't see…"

"She's a Purrloin, of course you didn't see it. I don't know what that Purrloin said to you, but they're all liars. That one tricked Emolga into sneaking food out to her once before after saying that one of her babies were sick and the food in the forest was running low."

"But it wasn't?" Aamira asked.

Ul shook his head. "Of course not. Purrloin are just greedy little creatures who prefer the taste of human food. If you had to live off of raw fruits and berries and any raw meat you could kill your whole life, you would probably prefer something more sophisticated too."

'But I did live off of raw fruits and berries, for around two years in Quill's world.' Aamira thought, though she didn't dare say it out loud. Purrloin had been right; she liked her uncle well enough so far, but he seemed pretty biased towards pokemon, even if this one was a thief. She remembered Purrloin telling her about how pokemon just didn't want to go through the trouble of doing things the way humans did. She smiled at the thought of Purrloin stealing all of those eggs and laying on top of them in an attempt to hatch them and start her own farm.

"What's with the smile?" Ul asked.

"Oh nothing." Aamira said. "After seeing the way that Purrloin roughed up the chickens before, I think I'll stick to a purely vegetarian diet from now on though."

Ul stared at her confused for a moment. Aamira felt that this momentary confusion was enough to compensate for how he had talked about a pokemon's preferred lifestyle as being 'unsophisticated' before. She wouldn't hold a grudge for it. At least not this time.

"Well never mind that for now, how often do all of you usually go swimming?" Aamira asked?

"Swimming? Oh, you must be referring to the pool in the garden. We never use that. It's Alomomola's pool. He's Pam's partner and he has to stay underwater at all times."

"Aren't Alomomola healers?" Aamira asked. "Why did Emolga have to go off to find an Audino if there's an Alomomola here?"

"He's not a very good healer unfortunately. He might have been able to help your arm a little, but that Audino is much more advanced. Anyway, there's something I wanted to show you."

Aamira followed Ul farther across the yard to something that looked like a stable. Immediately Blue came running out of the nearby grain silo and came running towards her. He ran around them in circles a couple of times before bounding off towards the stables.

Aamira didn't see what Blue was excited about. There were several Zebstrika and Blitzle roaming around inside the paddock, but aside from that, she didn't see anything special about this place. Then she noticed a flicker of light off in the distance as it ran towards them. It must have been one of the strongest looking Rapidash that Aamira had ever seen. It stopped right in front of them behind the paddock fence and immediately reared on its back legs and whinnied excitedly at the sight of Aamira.

"Hello, Rapidash." Aamira said to it, though it didn't seem to understand her. It still seemed really excited to see her though. The way it acted was exactly as Blue had. She reached out and stroked it on the neck. "Oh, did Zoroark get to you too?"

"Of course. He wouldn't want you to be around any intelligent pokemon. If I knew what he did to them, I might be able to find a way to reverse it, but the technology he uses is a lot more advanced than the best computers that I have here."

"So I've been around this Rapidash before?" Aamira asked.

"Faris tells me his name is Capricorn. Like with Blue, you raised him from a young age. He managed to sneak him out of the stables in the chaos from when you were escaping and had someone bring him here just in case."

"Despicable isn't it?" the two of them turned to see Lucario walking towards them. He seemed to be really mad about something. "Keeping pokemon locked up behind a fence like this? The pokemon here aren't the only ones. I've seen others all over this place. Who do humans think they are, using pokemon for transportation or their other selfish needs and then keeping them locked up for it?"

"Oh, no, it's not like that!" Ul said hastily. Emolga came flying up from behind Lucario and landed on Ul's shoulder. Her cheeks were sparking and she was standing perched in a protective way.

"Really? I just thought it was strange that none of the pokemon I talked to around here would even so much as look in my direction. I want to know exactly what you've been doing to them!"

"It's because you're a predator." Aamira said. "Or at least you're supposed to be. Most pokemon will settle for hunting animals, but not all do. They aren't locked behind these fences; the fences are there to keep other pokemon out."

"The fences around here have only been built around a year ago. Since the Alphas started forming in Dellevis, a lot of canine pokemon have been running to Neltona for protection. There's just not enough food around here for all of these canines, so they've started targeting pokemon as food too. They don't talk to you because you're a canine."

"So why are they here at all?" Lucario asked.

"Because they've been contracted to work for us." Ul said. "You know what contracts are, don't you?"

Lucario had heard the word before, but this wasn't exactly how he had known it to work. He had never seen anything like this before. In spite of everything Ul was saying, it still seemed to him like these pokemon were being held against their will.

"Pokemon who are under a contract are paid for the work they do. Not paid in money since most pokemon would have no need for such a thing, but in other services. In this case, protection. We didn't used to have this many pokemon here until the canines started to move to Neltona. A lot of wild pokemon have started flocking to human farms because they know they'll be safer here. The same goes for many of the pokemon here. Those two Zebstrika over there," he said, indicating a pair standing next to a Blitzle some distance away, "came here once their baby had hatched. They were worried about him being an easy target for hunters, so they came here looking for shelter. We had offered them a place to stay for free, but they insisted on providing something in return, so they'll sometimes pull a cart for us if we need to bring a large amount of produce into town to trade with."

"Well what about the Shuppet?" Lucario asked. "I noticed the ones hanging on the eaves of the house before, but I didn't realize they were real at first. Then Pam and the two kids who were going into town with her had put chains around the horns of a couple of them and started carrying them around on their necks."

Ul bit his bottom lip. "I was hoping you wouldn't see that…"

"You have Shuppet here?!" Aamira asked. Lucario had no idea what was going on, but Aamira seemed to be genuinely concerned about this, though not for the same reason he was.

"If you must know, they can get out of the chains any time they want. The chains are merely used as an easy way to carry them." Ul explained. "Shuppet feed off of negative emotions and there have been plenty of those coming from the townspeople to the point where it became dangerous. That's why they were bringing the Shuppet into town with them. If anyone there wants to hurt them, the Shuppet will eat those negative emotions and stop them from wanting to do anything. In a way the Shuppet are under a contract too. They get a good meal and anyone with them around their necks stays safe."

"The chain is a little more important than that though." Aamira said. "It actually started with one Shuppet who had failed to protect the child of a person who was widely hated at the time. That child's father didn't have his partner around at the time to translate for the Shuppet when he suddenly appeared in front of him. Then the Shuppet came up with the idea to slip the chain back around its horn and bring it back to the father. When he saw the chain, of course the only conclusion he had come to was that his son had died. Ever since, Shuppet have been using the chains as a signal. If the leave one morning and the chain is left behind, that means that the person's enemies no longer want to harm them for one reason or another. If the Shuppet appears in front of other family members and is still wearing the chain, they can assume the worst has happened and that their family member had been killed."

"So the chains were a Shuppet's idea?" Lucario asked. "But does that really work? If people still die with a Shuppet around then what's the point?"

"Well Shuppet might not think to protect their contractor's partner. Of course, if the partner is killed then the human dies too. Then there are assassins. They wouldn't feel one way or another towards the person they were hired to go after, so the Shuppet wouldn't be able to detect them. Even so, it works directly towards their contractor's enemies. And if a family member is found dead and the Shuppet is nowhere to be seen it means that they died of a natural cause. That's probably prevented numerous deadly feuds between old families."

"I used to have two older stepsons." Ul said. "The partner of the younger one was killed by an assassin. The Shuppet protecting him at the time was so loyal that it actually tried to revive his partner. It was already too late though and both of them died. Since we had been there to see it happen, the Shuppet disappeared, leaving the chain behind. Some time later, my older stepson disappeared and the Shuppet who was with him appeared a few days later with the chain still wrapped around its horn. We think he was probably kidnapped to be held for ransom but was killed instead. Believe me, there's nothing we want more than to wake up one morning to find that the Shuppet have gone and left the chains behind."

"I wish you could have just told us about the Shuppet from the start." Lucario said. "You made me feel terrible for making you say all of that just now."

"That's his way of apologizing." Aamira said. Ul smiled weakly. "But why do people hate you so much? Even when we were walking here yesterday, we tried to ask someone for a ride and both him and the Zebstrika pulling the cart just told us to walk and stormed off."

"I hate to say it, but it's because of Pam." Ul said. "I had moved here after marrying the Lady of this manor a long time ago. She died of an illness a few years back right when the civil war here in Neltona was at its peak. When things were finally starting to calm down after the rebel leader had died, his niece, Pam, asked to marry me. Her husband had died fighting during the war and neither him nor Pam had supported her Uncle. Even so, people hated her just because of who she was related to."

"So she just walked up to you and asked you to marry her and you immediately said yes?" Aamira asked.

"Well no, it's not like that." Ul said. "She first came to this area to get away from her other family members. Her husband was still fighting in the war at that point and she was traveling around acting as a doctor. She first came here to try to cure my first wife's illness. Alomomola tried his best to help, but neither of them knew what the disease was and they weren't able to save her. A lot of people think she was sent here as an assassin to kill my first wife, but I got a second opinion from Audino and he agreed that she had died of natural causes. Even so, when we got married a few years later, a lot of people came to see me as a traitor. As if someone isn't allowed a second chance at love… It's not as if we got married the second her husband and my wife died."

Aamira laughed. "Yea, I assumed you didn't get married right away. What I mean is… she asked YOU to marry her?"

Ul blushed and started to laugh a little. "Yea, I suppose she did."

"Oh he was so cute." Emolga said. "He had been trying to ask her for the longest time. Then one day she yelled at him for being such a coward and said since he wasn't going to do it that she would."

"Emolga!" Ul's face turned a darker shade of red.

"Of course I had talked to Alomomola about it before then." Emolga said. "We both knew our partners were crazy for each other, but we decided not to say anything and just sat back to watch the fun."

Ul made some excuse about thinking he heard Pam coming home and ran back to the house. Emolga stayed behind just long enough to thank Aamira for making Ul feel better after explaining what had happened. She really hadn't meant to, but Emolga wasn't going to pass up the chance to add a little more humor to the situation.

Aamira had followed through with her vow to eat a vegetarian dinner that night, which was torture at first after months of eating the same vegetables over and over again. Even so, she felt somehow more energetic from it and it made eating at the table easier for Quill and Lucario since they didn't have to watch her eating what had once been a living creature.

That night the three of them were able to get to sleep a little easier. They didn't even hear the trap door swinging open and the ladder falling to the floor below, or the footsteps walking up to their attic room.

Aamira was awoken by someone placing their hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw her uncle standing over her, making a gesture to keep quiet. Quill, who was sleeping in her bed again, woke up almost as soon as she had. They saw Emolga over by Lucario waking him up as well.

"Follow me and don't make a sound." Ul whispered to them as he moved back towards the ladder.

The three of them slipped quietly out of bed and followed them downstairs. They walked silently down to the bottom floor and entered the kitchen. Ul walked up to a door at the far end of the room and unlocked it with a key from his pocket. The three of them were somewhat suspicious of this, but if Faris trusted him well enough, then they would too. If it turned out that Ul was up to no good, they were confident that they would be able to fight their way out anyway.

Behind the door was another set of stairs that led down to a basement. On the far wall of the basement there was a row of bookshelves. Ul took the edge of one and slid it aside into the wall it was next to, which apparently had a hidden groove in it that was just large enough for it to slide through. Behind the bookshelf was another door which looked more advanced than any door should be. There was a sort of key pad on the side of it, which Ul punched a code into, making the door slide open.

Years of investigating had given them a lot of experience. Even though Ul had typed the code in too fast for most people to see, the three of them were able to see what he had put in and were even able to memorize it.

The hallway behind the hidden door was well lit and lined with various other doors. As they walked down the hall, they started to hear more voices. Ul opened a door to their left, revealing something like a meeting room inside, with a round table with about a dozen people sitting around it. Whatever they had been talking about, they immediately stopped as soon as Ul opened the door.

"Well it's about time!" An all too familiar bald-headed Dellevan guard said as they walked in.

"Faris!" Aamira shouted. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I was supposed to come get you at some point anyway, wasn't I?" Faris asked. "Besides, I had a new recruit to bring with me." He gestured to another guard to his right, which they recognized as the one who recognized Aamira at the Mirror Palace. Quill looked away from him and tried not to make eye contact. He had really lost it back then and had probably really scared him.

"Faris is a new recruit himself, technically." Ul said. "Sorry I'm late, by the way. Pamela took longer to fall asleep than usual. But here they are, safe and not a scratch on them."

Everyone there seemed to be waiting for some sort of cue to speak, and this was apparently it. Of course everyone was excited to see Aamira, even though Aamira didn't recognize any of them, and they were surprisingly happy to meet Lucario and Quill as well. Apparently they thought that Lucario and Quill had been the ones keeping Aamira safe for the few years that she went missing. While that wasn't entirely true, they were enjoying some of the attention. Considering they were both pokemon who could speak, everyone was enjoying talking to them too.

"Audino is part of our group too." Faris said. "Lucario, you remember her, don't you? You ran into Audino after escaping from the Alphas." Lucario nodded, and this new knowledge excited them a lot more.

"Is it true you have amnesia?" one of them asked. He looked younger than all of them except for the new recruit from the Mirror Palace. He was wearing glasses that looked uncannily like the ones that Dragonite from Quill's world had worn and had the classing black hair and red eyes combination of Neltona. Even so, they had a feeling that he had actually been from Dellevis.

Aamira nodded, feeling a little self conscious from all of the attention. "I'm sorry, but if we've met before, I have no idea who you are."

"No idea?" he said. "No idea!? Come on, you have to remember me. I'm the one who taught you how to read, even if Zoroark didn't want that. I knew I was doing something dangerous from the start, but did that stop me? Of course not. And now you're saying that you don't even remember me, you're old buddy Darach? I'm hurt."

Aamira laughed a little nervously. She was sure that he wasn't being serious, but he was definitely strange.

"Well anyway, I have no idea what you'll be up to in the future, but if you need an expert on old Therian legends, I'm your guy." Darach said. "Or if you just need someone to talk to. I really did miss the old days when you would skip all of your lessons to sneak into the library, whether to read or just for a chat. Tranquil will be thrilled to see you again, I'm sure."

"That's… great." Aamira said. "But who are all of you?"

"The rebellion of course." Ul said. "They had started up a long time ago, when one of the guards who knew Zoroark's true identity suspected him of causing your disappearance. There were a few others who thought along the same lines and they started to plot to overthrow him. Unfortunately, most of them were caught early on because they didn't have any good place to meet and they were eventually overheard. One of the survivors thought to contact me and I told them about this hidden passage in the cellar. It suited them just fine, since I was the last surviving member of the royal family that they new of. Aside from you, of course. But if you hadn't been found then the initial plan was that once they overthrew Zoroark that I would become the new king. I didn't want Pam to know any of this though. I told her a long time ago that the door to the cellar had been stuck closed since before I have ever moved here."

"So that's why you wanted us to be quiet when we were coming down here." Aamira said.

"Yes, well, to continue where we had left off before, I believe we were discussing something fairly important." Faris said. He seemed to have taken up the leadership position immediately. Being the Captain of the Guard, it must have been second nature. "Tomorrow as you all know, except perhaps the one it matters most to, is Aamira's fifteenth birthday."

"It is!?" Aamira asked.

Faris nodded. "Though there's really no reason to celebrate, considering the circumstances. Tomorrow would normally be the day when you would both get married and the day when you would ascend to the throne. Obviously those plans won't be carried out, because of Zoroark's meddling."

"Who was I going to get married to?" Aamira asked. She had never thought about it much before, but now she really did wonder.

"It would have been a marriage to go down in history for sure." Darach said. "It was planned for you to marry the prince of Neltona."

"Planned?" Lucario said. "You mean it was an arranged marriage?"

"Well yes and no." Faris said. "The arrangements for the marriage are always made early on in the heir's life, but if the two don't get along then obviously the marriage would end in disaster. Unfortunately in this case, Aamira and the prince did get along quite well. It seemed that everything would go smoothly. Then during a visit to Neltona many years ago, the prince was assassinated and Zoroark never made an attempt to find another suitor."

"It was the prince's assassination that triggered the Neltonan civil war." Ul said. "It wasn't anything associated with Zoroark who had done it, as it turns out, but apparently he saw this as an opportunity. Either way, it doesn't matter now. Tomorrow there will be no new king or queen, as there should be."

"But that doesn't mean we can't have our own celebration here." Faris said. "After all, tomorrow you're legally an adult. Normally there would be a huge festival held, but a small party here shouldn't be too bad, should it?"

"It seems like a lot of effort though. Aren't there more important things to do?" Aamira asked.

"Trust me when I say anyone from Dellevis would need this." Darach said. "Things haven't been going well. Anything we would do for you would be just as much for us."

"Well if you say so." Aamira said. "In that case is there any way we could have a party outside tomorrow night? It's a new moon tomorrow and I don't remember the last time I've been able to enjoy being outside at night."

"We could do it in the woods." Faris suggested. "Right where the secret passage lets out."

Ul nodded. "That will be fine. Luckily there's everything we need down here, including a kitchen, so Pamela won't get suspicious. I feel terrible about hiding all of this from her, but she has enough to worry about."

"So can anyone here cook?" the younger guard asked. Everyone looked back and fourth between each other. Of course they could all "cook" but it wasn't exactly fine dining.

"I could probably make a few things." Quill said. "Recipes from my own country. I lived in the forest, so I might be able to find all of the ingredients I need."

"I have a cook book, if you need more recipes." Darach offered.

"You really don't have to do this." Aamira said to Quill.

"Of course I do!" Quill said. "I found this really good recipe for a pie a while back. Daisy really likes it, but you never had the chance to taste it. Consider it a birthday present."

"Well, if you insist." Aamira said.

They stayed up a while later, getting to know everyone who was there. There were some other members of the rebellion who hadn't been able to make it, but everyone who was here seemed to be a pretty good bunch. Aamira was especially fond of Darach, who was always making some sort of witty remark but who seemed really smart from years of working in a library.

They finally went back to bed in the early hours of the morning. They were so tired that they didn't even have to try to be quiet on their way back up to their room. While they had been so quick to fall asleep before, the recent excitement made it difficult. Aamira especially was having trouble. She just couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to happen.


	10. Chapter 10 Daisy's Nightmare

Quill had been feeling enthusiastic about Aamira's birthday at first. Sylvans loved festivals and parties, after all. What he hadn't realized was that there was going to be so many people there. The people who had attended the meeting the previous night had only been a small sample of the rebels. Almost as soon as Quill woke up the next morning, Ul told him to go down into the hideout and meet with Darach. It was then that Darach had given him a huge list of people who would be there by nightfall for the party. The list was mainly to list any allergies that any of the guests might have, but everyone's name had been written on it just to give Quill an idea of how much he would have to make. The list itself was longer than Quill was high when standing on two legs. To read the whole thing, he had to flatten the list on the floor and look at it from above.

Luckily he wasn't entirely on his own with this. A small fire type pokemon named Tepig, who was the partner of one of the rebels would be helping him cook while the Raticate, who was the partner of the guard from the Mirror Palace, and Darach's partner Tranquill would be helping to gather ingredients from a nearby forest.

At first Quill welcomed help from the three of them, especially Raticate since she was the only one who could tell him about his sister. Unfortunately, he was disappointed. The only thing that Raticate was able to tell him was what her partner had already told them back at the Mirror Palace. Tepig was alright, but he was really young and he had trouble controlling his fire, making it difficult to cook the things that had to be cooked in direct flames. Too much fire and the food was burnt, too little and it wouldn't cook. The main problem was the consistency of the heat, which made it difficult for Tepig to cook anything evenly. His first attempt, in fact, was burnt on one side and completely raw on the other.

It was Tranquill who Quill really enjoyed talking to. Apparently Darach would sometimes refer to her as "Quills", though he hadn't done that much since they were younger. Even so, the similarity of their names really helped the unease that Quill was feeling before then; Quill had heard Lucario's account of how the other Tranquill had gotten him captured and he had been on guard because of it. This Tranquill was really nice though and very knowledgeable, both from being the partner of a librarian and being a flying type and being able to go wherever she wanted because of it.

After a while, Raticate and Tranquill finished gathering the ingredients needed from the forest. Raticate ran off to do some training with her partner while Tranquill stayed behind to lend a talon and keep up the conversation so they wouldn't get bored and burn something by accident.

"Are Tranquill common partners for humans?" Quill asked once they got the bottom layer of the cake in the oven. It was one of the few recipes that they could use the human technology to help them with. "We met a Mightyena on the way here and he said that all of the humans from his village had a Poochyena or Mightyena for a partner."

"It really does depend on the region I guess." Tranquill said. "I know in the Coccona Islands most of the humans there have a Panpour, Pansage, Pansear, or one of those pokemon's evolved forms for a partner. Too bad there aren't any of them here on the mainland. I hear they're really good at cooking."

"Coccona Islands." Quill remembered hearing the name from Aamira from when they had been coming up to the city where Ul's manor stood. "That's the place where the humans have red hair and green eyes, right?"

"That's right. Well known for their chocolate too. The same chocolate you put in the marble cake, in fact. To answer your question about Tranquill though, we're not really common or uncommon as partners, although nearly everyone in Darach's family has had one for a partner, ever since that incident."

"What incident was that?" Quill asked. Tepig was getting a lot better with his fire and he was exhausted from doing the brunt of the work up until now. He didn't mind taking a little break from cooking to listen to Tranquill."

Tranquill ruffled up her feathers excitedly. "Ah such a beautiful tale. You know how Neltona and Dellevis had always been on par with each other? Never got along, ever since the countries were founded. Well way back when, the two countries were on the brink of a war. There had been a group of notorious bandits back then, which have long since been disbanded. Well, it was believed by Neltona that these bandits were in fact a group of soldiers sent to spy on their borders. Any sign of the bandits crossing the border would have meant a war. Of course, these bandits had been fleeing from the real soldiers and crossing the border was, in fact, their intention.

"Now the border itself was lined with soldiers from Neltona and the soldiers from Dellevis were approaching the border in pursuit of the bandits. Traveling with the Dellevan soldiers was one of Darach's ancestors. His partner was a beautiful Unfezant whose flying skills were unmatched. That Unfezant was one of my ancestors. At the time, she was considered one of the world's greatest Carriers."

"Carrier?" Quill asked.

"Message-bearing pokemon. They take their jobs very seriously. That is, we take our jobs very seriously, as I am also a Carrier. We follow a great code of honor second only to the knight and as such, Carriers have been dubbed the Knights of the Sky.

"Now at the time my ancestor had a very important job. She had to sneak near the border to keep an eye on the bandits and the Neltonan soldiers. From her observations, her partner would try to predict the bandit's movements so that the soldiers could apprehend them and escort them to the nearest prison before a war broke out. Every now and then she would also have to deliver their findings to the king and queen. Needless to say, it was a huge responsibility for one bird.

"At one point one of the Neltonan soldiers stumbled across the border. Historians believe that he had been dealt a head injury and sustained brain damage from a hoof to the head from a Zebstrika. Apparently he broke the terms of his contract with the Zebstrika and tried to make the Zebstrika obey his orders through force."

"I feel no sympathy for someone like that." Quill said.

Tranquill's feather's ruffled up in agitation. "Nor do I. Oh the trouble that incident caused. He was immediately believed to be a spy by the Dellevan guards since he so much as walked the five miles across the border to their camp. He was immediately apprehended and held prisoner in the command tent. At one point he became extremely violent and the Captain of the Guard tried to knock him out to keep him from hurting anyone. It's believed that the initial head injury caused a serious hemorrhage in the brain and that the knock to the head, meant only to knock him unconscious for a few hours, was enough to finish him off.

"Here's where there's a downside to the human and pokemon partner system. That human's partner had stayed behind in the camp back in Neltona. She had been detained for trying to steal medical supplies for her partner and hadn't been able to follow him or keep him from wandering away from their camp. Of course she was able to feel it when he died and after evidence showed that he had crossed the border, they immediately assumed that he had been killed on purpose by the Dellevan soldiers. At that point, the Dellevan soldiers were already moving towards the border to confront the Neltonan soldiers for sending a spy into their territory. It wasn't long before a full battle had broken out.

"My ancestor had been ordered by the Captain of the Guard to send a message to the king and queen and to request a declaration of war. However, Unfezant are extremely loyal and will only take orders directly from their partners, no matter how high ranked the person issuing the orders is. As such, she asked his opinion first. It was then that her partner requested to be sent as a diplomat to the Neltonan Captain. His request was approved and the two of them crossed into the Neltonan camp in an attempt to stop the fight.

"Though the conversation, they were eventually able to figure out that the fight had been caused by a huge misunderstanding. The Captain had his partner spread the message that there was going to be a truce and Unfezant was sent back to her camp to deliver the same message to the Dellevan soldiers. This is where everything went wrong though. The captain didn't think that Unfezant and her partner were going to return alive and he had already sent a message to the king and queen asking for a declaration of war. Unfezant was about to follow after the Carrier when the bandits attacked. Many of the soldiers on both side had been killed or injured in the fight, so they were easily defeated. Unfezant's partner, who was trained as a scribe rather than a fighter, took up a sword himself to help in the fight.

"Unfezant helped to the best of her ability, carrying as many injured humans and pokemon as she could from the battlefield. At some point in the midst of the battle, an uneasy feeling settled over to her and she feared that something might have happened to her partner. She returned to the battlefield to find him badly injured. She was prepared to carry him to where the other injured soldiers were, since his injury wouldn't be life threatening if it could be bandaged in time. Before she could, he stopped her. From out of the case that he always carried on his back, he got a piece of parchment and a bottle of ink. However, he didn't have anything left with him to write with. The only thing available in the area was one of Unfezant's feathers.

"She protested at first, not because of the though of having one of her feathers plucked, but because she knew that he would bleed to death if she didn't get him to someone to take care of his injuries. What her partner said next is now a famous quote in Dellevis, Neltona, and even Dargan. 'My ancestors surely must envy me for the glorious partner that I've been blessed with. All scribes know what it's like to fly from the many tomes they read, but none could truly appreciate it as much as I. Even from before the time you could carry me to the sky, I've known that feeling because I've known you. Out of all other pokemon, you are without a doubt the greatest Carrier there ever has been or ever will be. Stay with me now for these last few minutes, and then deliver my final message. You know as well as I do that you can save so many more than just myself.' And so with that my ancestor gave in, sacrificing one of her fine primaries to be his quill. She watched her partner write the message and with the message, she watched his life ebbing away.

"Just as the message was finished, her partner finally found it impossible to hold on. Sickened by the pain in her heart, Unfezant rolled up the message and took it in her talons and flew for the capitol city. The other messenger was already nearly a day ahead of her and weakened by a heavy heart and several injuries, she found flying difficult than it ever should have been for her. Nonetheless, she took off, not looking back at her partner even once as she flew, and she flew farther and faster than any other of our species ever had in one flight. Along the way, she met the messenger, a huge and vicious Braviary who was the partner of the Captain of the Guard. He wouldn't believe her words and attacked without listening to her full account of events. Somehow, in spite of her injuries and the handicap of not being able to fight with her talons out of the possibility of her partner's final message being damaged, she managed to fight off the Braviary.

"Finally, weak and tired from the fight, she glided through the high windows of the throne room, and delivered the message to the king and queen. Through much negotiation, a war was prevented and they managed to enlist the help of Neltona to capture the bandits that had attacked their soldiers. Unfezant, tired from the long flight and in great physical and mental pain, lost consciousness the second her talons opened and the message was delivered and she didn't wake up for over a week. She was honored as a hero and a statue of her was placed in the castle library for all future scribes and Carriers to see. She didn't care anything for the many awards granted to her or the praise given from her fellow Carriers. Almost as soon as she regained consciousness, she resigned from her position as the Top Carrier and lived out the rest of her life alone and wild in the mountains to the north of the city."

"That's so sad." Quill said. "But I can understand why you would be proud to be Unfezant's descendant. Both she and her partner sacrificed so much."

Tranquill gave a quick, bobbing not that was characteristic for her species. "Yes, they both sacrificed so much and saved so many lives in the process. I think what really strikes people about this story is that Unfezant wasn't the stereotypical noble hero from most stories. She got injured many times and didn't necessarily die as a hero as most do in old tales. She was just like every other pokemon, exceeding others only in her speed and endurance. It's much easier to relate to a real person rather than the flat character of fairytales. Maybe that's why so many of her descendants have aspired to become something like her. The same for her partner. All of his descendants, Darach included, have wanted to do a deed as noble as his, even if it meant dieing in the process. You can see why he was so eager to teach Aamira the things that Zoroark didn't want her to know and why he was so quick to join the rebels when he could."

Quill was lost in thought by this for a moment. Unfezant had died with a broken heart, and yet so many of her ancestors aspired to be like her.

"Uh, Mr. Quill, I think the cake is burning." Tepig said timidly.

"Ah!" Quill ran over to the oven and opened the door, snatching the cake by the hot tin that would have burned almost any other pokemon, and pulling it out before any more damage was done. Most of the surface that had been in contact with the metal tin was now singed. Quill considered just cutting off the burned parts, but that wouldn't seem like something fit for a queen if he did. He was sure Aamira probably wouldn't mind, but any of the other humans might take offense if they found out.

While peeling off the burnt layer to see how much of it he could possibly salvage, the burnt layer reminded him of something that he should have remembered hours ago.

"Are there any ice types around here?" Quill asked Tranquill.

"Yes, why?" She asked with a tilt of the head.

"Can you get any ice types to come to the kitchen and then maybe gather some Tamato berries and honey?" Quill asked.

"I don't see where you're going with this. If you're going to make something else, maybe you should focus on the cake first."

"Just trust me." Quill said. He gave her a list of other berries and various other items he would need and she took off seconds later. He wasn't sure how much humans would like his idea, but he was sure that even if Aamira's taste buds had changed that she would still like his idea. This would be his birthday present to her.

Aamira had been the first to wake up, though it wasn't from excitement. It was amazing how the nightmares had vanished once she returned to this world. Faris had told her that she used to have constant nightmares even before she lost her memory. Her best guess for why they had stopped was because she was suddenly living in a nightmare when she had first returned. In fact, before things got really bad, she did still have the nightmares but they stopped soon after. It was strange then that she would have one now. But then she realized the reason for the dream and she had been roaming around the house anxiously all day trying to think of what to do about it.

Pam's breakfast helped to settle her nerves a little. It was a special birthday breakfast that was apparently an old tradition in her family. Aamira wondered for a moment if her uncle, who had led the rebels who instigated the civil war, had also followed this tradition. Not that it really mattered to her.

Lucario woke up last, which didn't really suit him at all. He tried to look for Quill and Aamira's auras to meet up with them and found that Quill was in the hideout, probably cooking for the party later. When he went to find Aamira, he thought at first that there were more kids than he had originally counted. It was then that he realized that the oldest black haired girl bore a striking resemblance to Anima, who he had seen in the picture.

"Last to wake up, that's not like you." Aamira said.

"What happened to your hair?" Lucario asked.

"Well no point in disguising myself as a boy anymore, is there?" Aamira said. "They already know that trick, so any guards who come across me would recognize me if I tried it again. Instead I just dyed my hair black with some ink I got from Darach. A few of the kids had been outgrowing their clothes, so when Pam took them shopping, she got me something that was more typical for this region. It helps that my hair had already started to grow in. I blend in fairly well now, don't I?"

"Not exactly." Lucario said. "If your mother was as well known as I would assume she was, that disguise won't be any help at all; you look almost exactly like Anima now."

Aamira's eyes widened as this realization dawned on her and she ran off to find the nearest mirror and started to fuss over ways to change her appearance. She thought of everything from tying up her hair, which was still much too short for something like that, to changing the look of her face by giving herself a black eye. She eventually gave up, since nothing was really working and she didn't think Faris or Darach would approve of her hurting herself constantly to keep up a disguise.

"Well maybe it's better this way. At least for tonight. I was supposed to become the queen today. Even if that's not possible, the least I could do is show off the resemblance between me and the real queen."

Ul asked Lucario to follow Aamira around for the rest of the day so that she didn't accidentally stumble across any preparations. What was about to happen wasn't exactly a surprise, but no one would want her to accidentally stumble across an unwrapped present or something else that she shouldn't see until night. Lucario had a present of sorts that he wanted to work on too and he was afraid that it wouldn't work without a few minutes of practice. He hoped she would like it, he was pretty sure she would, but then he was also worried that she would think that he was trying to show off.

They were outside now, eating some fruit and watching the kids and their pokemon playing with Alomomola. They were playing a game where Alomomola would squirt water at them from below the surface of the water and they would have to try to avoid it. Blue had joined in the game too and he seemed to be enjoying himself in spite of being a pokemon that normally wouldn't like water.

"Be careful with your horns, Blue!" Aamira shouted at him. She was scared that one of the kids would trip and end up hurting themselves on one of Blue's horns, although they were still so short and dull from being filed down before they found him at the Mirror Palace. If they did accidentally run into one of his horns, it would probably leave a bad bruise, but nothing much worse. Alomomola might have even been able to heal something so small.

"Alomomola and Emolga both look like other pokemon." Lucario said. "Emolga looks like a Pachirisu and Alomomola looks like a Luvdisc. They aren't evolved forms, are they? I've never heard of either of them before coming to this world."

"They aren't evolved forms of Pachirisu and Luvdisc but they did evolve from them." Aamira explained. "The dragon force in this world has an unusual effect on pokemon. Over time, the pokemon in this world have been changing so that they don't resemble the ones in any other world. Pachirisu and Luvdisc don't exist in this world anymore because their species was so drastically altered over a long period of time that they became entirely different species."

"So those individuals never really changed in appearance," Lucario said, "but over time children of those pokemon started to look different."

"Yea. Pachirisu apparently had a lot of trouble in this world before. A long time ago, there weren't many big forests. In the existing forests, Pachirisu were constantly fighting over territory. Mainly they had to stay in an area where the trees were filled with food but scattered far apart. Of course there are some pokemon who aren't above eating other pokemon, so having to run from one tree to another took too much time and put them in constant danger. Apparently they started to jump across the impossible distances between the trees. Any who couldn't made the jump would fall and most likely die or would be forced to run on the ground and would possibly be eaten. Over time the only survivors were the ones who were developing the membranes between their arms. The fur on their backs also started to become darker to help hide them in the trees and their tails became shorter and more aerodynamic. Their ears got larger too so that it was easier for them to help hear predators coming. After many generations the pokemon that resulted was so different from Pachirisu that it was an entirely different species.

"Luvdisc had problems swimming near the shores where the currents are really strong. They would often get injured and wouldn't have any way to heal while battling the currents. Over time they started to develop a membrane that would heal their wounds. Only the Luvdisc with these membranes would live on to have children, so soon that membrane became common. They also developed larger fins that helped them swim through even the toughest currents with ease. Dark patches started to form over their eyes so that they could see even when strong water was being blasted into their eyes from the currents. Alomomola are a lot more muscular than Luvdisc. It's easiest to see around the mouth."

"How could the dragon force cause so many drastic changes to these pokemon?" Lucario asked.

"No one's really sure. There are several other species of pokemon that have developed from other species. It's probably changed humans over time too. I bet if you look at the humans in this world and then the humans in that world where pokemon don't exist, there would be a huge difference between us. It's possible that even if the people in both words refer to themselves as 'human' that the species would be entirely different by now."

"Have you ever wanted to go to that world? Just to see what it's like?" Lucario asked.

"I don't think so." Aamira said. "I mean, who would ever want to live in a world with no pokemon?"

Lucario smiled and bit into the apple that he had been holding for the last few minutes. He wondered vaguely if there were any Aura Readers in that world. Before he could think about this for too long, he noticed a small pokemon sneaking up on one of the kids. He didn't know all of the pokemon that lived here yet, so he figured that it was another one that had been contracted, possibly to babysit the kids while the parents were busy.

This theory was disproven almost instantly as the purple feline pokemon leapt out of the rose bush and tackled the kid that she had been following. He screamed and fell into the pool and Alomomola immediately dove down under the water, scooped him up in one of her fins, and dragged him back up to the side of the pool.

The kid apparently couldn't swim and his siblings all seemed worried at first when he started coughing up water. After a while he caught his breath and started stumbling towards the feline. He seemed furious, although the cat merely licked its paws with its eyes closed nonchalantly. He was about to reach down and grab the cat, possibly to throw it in the pool and see if it was a better swimmer than him, when the pokemon opened its eyes. Their eyes met at the kid stopped moving entirely.

Lucario glanced over at Aamira for a second and saw that she had the weirdest sort of smirk on her face. Then he looked back over to the kid and the cat and watched as he lowered one hand to the cats head and started to rub it between its ears. The pokemon purred so loudly that they could hear it even from across the pool.

"That's his partner, isn't it?" Lucario asked. Aamira nodded. He had a suspicion that she had already known who the kid's partner was.

Finally, after hours of waiting, all of the preparations had been finished. Aamira, Quill, and Lucario had pretended to go to bed just as Ul had done. After he finally came up to tell him that everyone else in the house had fallen asleep, they got up and walked with him down to the hideout.

When they got through to the other side of the passageway, which was about a five minute walk, they found a circular trap door that led to an old well in the middle of the forest. There was such a large number of people there to shout happy birthday, humans and pokemon included, that Aamira couldn't count all of them. She had to guess that there were at least twenty pairs of humans and pokemon, though Quill knew that there was more than that.

"That's some cake." Aamira said as she walked up to the food-covered table. Of course since the fifteenth birthday also doubled as a wedding, the cake was traditionally a mix between a birthday cake and a wedding cake. This one was seven tiers and covered in such perfectly made icing tree branches and leaves that at first Aamira had though that someone had shaken the branch of a tree above the table and got it covered in debris.

"We had some trouble with the cake." Quill said. "My fault, really. At the very least that Mienfoo who came by to help us had a really steady hand. He was surprisingly good with a tube of icing."

"It all looks great." Aamira said as she looked over the rest of the food. What really caught her eye was something that looked like a gift box in the center of the table, right in front of the cake.

"I'll admit I'm not used to cooking like this." Quill said.

"And I'm sure that no one here is used to eating like this." Aamira said.

Quill had noticed the problem earlier when he had helped to carry it out. A lot of the people who had already gathered were confused after the first few dishes when they started to realize that none of the dishes included even the smallest amount of meat. Quill hadn't forgotten about how humans generally ate, but both Raticate and Tranquill ate very little meat and didn't want to gather any. Quill hadn't protested because he didn't think he would have been able to cook it, even if he knew how. Eventually he just came up with the excuse that Aamira had decided to become a vegetarian, which was true at least.

Or maybe Aamira had meant the dishes. Many of them were dishes from Quill's world, the berry pie being his own invention. The dishes that did originate from this world weren't ones that Quill had ever made before, so they all had a sort of Sylvan spin to them. The tree-covered cake being one of them.

In spite of that, everyone really loved the food, the pokemon especially. Having only ever had food made by humans or food that was grown naturally and then eaten raw with no changes made to it, it was a real experience for them to taste food that was actually cooked by a pokemon and for a pokemon.

Aamira found herself getting nostalgic over it. Those times she would sit in the café in the Investigator's Brigade headquarters and talk with all of her friends about their adventures for the day, missions that were completed or failed, of problems that other team members were having suddenly came back to her. It was amazing how much had changed and how rarely she got the chance to appreciate that she could remember that other world. Her memories of that world were next to useless in most situations in this world. Even so, she would never trade them for anything.

"If you think the cake is good, why don't you open that present there?" Quill said.

Everyone watched Aamira curiously as she stepped back up to the table. The present seemed so out of place surrounded by the food that it had caught everyone's attention. She found that for some reason the box had been nailed to the table and she couldn't pick it up. Instead, she just slid off the lid and jumped back as the sides of the box fell against the table. Stacked in a neat pyramid in the center of the base of the box was an even hundred pieces of Lava Rock candy. Quill was happy to see that she actually smiled when the walls of the box came down. She stared at it for a second before she picked up the piece from the top of the pyramid and put it in her mouth.

She started to cough uncontrollably the second she closed her mouth. Even so, she kept smiling after she finally managed to swallow it. "Ugh, it's even worse than I remember!"

"Too spicy?" Quill asked.

"Way too spicy." She picked up and ate a second one, much to everyone's confusion.

A few people were a bit hesitant to try it after Aamira nearly choked on both pieces, but most seemed to be more curious as to why she ate a second piece at all. Quill noticed something strange as other people started to eat the candy. Most of the younger humans, who were probably just barely adults, and the younger pokemon were able to eat them without much of a problem. Even stranger than that was that while all fire types loved it, as they normally did, their partners were the only ones who could eat the candy and enjoy it, no matter what age they were. It was almost as if the humans with fire type partners were fire types themselves.

"At least your eyes didn't water and you didn't start screaming on the first piece like you did back in Ignis." Quill said to Aamira after her fifth piece of candy. She might have been caught off guard by how spicy it was at first, but she couldn't deny that she really loved this candy.

"Remember when I ate that second piece and everyone just sort of stared at me? It was like I was going to eat poison or something. The expression on their faces was just priceless."

"Yea, that was pretty funny." Quill said. "Oh I think Lucario was working on a present of some sort too. He snuck away a few hours ago when you fell asleep and only came back a few minutes before Ul came to get us."

"Really?" Aamira had been so tired from the lack of sleep the previous night that she couldn't help falling asleep, even if it had been for just a few minutes. Had Lucario done this only shortly after the three of them were reunited, Aamira wouldn't care. Now that they had been traveling together for the last couple of weeks, Aamira couldn't hold a grudge towards him anymore or even pretend to. She found that she was genuinely curios and even excited to see what Lucario could come up with.

Every now and then someone who Aamira might have once known by name but she could now no longer even recognize would come up and talk to her. None of the pokemon seemed to have any problem with talking to her but most of the humans seemed strangely shy about it. Darach was the only exception and he even helped her with talking to some of the others if she just couldn't think of the right thing to say. She was almost just as shy about talking to them as they were about talking to her, which would have led to an awkward situation if Darach hadn't been there.

"Oh before I forget." Darach held his hand out and a wrapped present fell into his palm. As if he could forget. Aamira wondered how long he and Tranquill had practiced this, or if knowing where to drop a package was just second nature to Tranquill at this point. He handed it to Aamira, who opened it, expecting another necklace or something like most of the others had given her.

Instead of it being a case with another necklace or some other piece of jewelry in it, like she half expected, it turned out to be a book. Most people would think that this was just a gift that a scribe would make on a whim, but Aamira now had the feeling that Darach knew he better than anyone else here, not counting Quill, Lucario, and maybe Faris and Bisharp.

It was a thick book with too many words in it for it to be a children's book, but all of the beautiful illustrations almost suggested it was one. She flipped through the pages for a few minutes, skimming over a few of the words and looking at the pictures. In that time, she was completely unaware of what anyone else was doing. If she tried to read too much of it, she started to feel dizzy and a little nauseous just as she had every other time she had tried to read, ever since that scroll. The eye strain caused by the Reflecting Mirror didn't help either.

She thanked Darach and decided to ask Quill to read her some of it later. It was an embarrassing thought, but she genuinely wanted to read this book.

"It was one of your favorites." Darach said. "The first one you ever read all the way through. You read it five more times since then. I thought it was a real shame how you read it so many times over and that now you can't even remember it.

Darach and Quill's gifts were so far the best ones she had gotten so far. She hated to say that she liked or disliked any of the gifts since she hated to sound ungrateful. Even so, she found that the more jewelry or other meaningless trinkets she was given, the more she started to wonder how much money she could get from them if she suddenly had to leave with Quill and Lucario and that was the only way they could afford to stay in an inn one night.

Not all of the gifts were impractical. In fact, she thought that Bisharp's had been almost too much so. Bisharp had hand carved a piece of wood so that it closely resembled the sword that Faris carried and had written out a training regime that was to be followed carefully. It was more like homework than a present, but at least the wooden sword looked nice.

"I got you something, though it's not much of a present." Faris said. "Sorry, I didn't even have the chance to wrap it."

"Well just give it to her anyway." Bisharp snapped at him. She just seemed way too serious sometimes.

He handed her something that looked like a disk for some sort of computer software. She assumed he probably picked this up in the Mirror Palace since technology like this wasn't too common in your everyday village.

"What is this?" Aamira asked.

"I figured it would be safer with you than if I left it back there. It's an XD program."

"Are you serious!?" Aamira shouted.

"What's an XD program?" Quill asked as he stared at the strange disk that didn't look like anything special to him.

"It's a sort of program used to create an AI." Aamira saw that this didn't really answer his question and assumed he had no idea what an AI was either. The technology gap in their worlds was amazing at times. "It's used to create an artificial intelligence. Sort of like a pokemon if it was made by humans."

"Which is exactly what that one is." Faris said. "I've used the program once before I took it. It already understands speech on a small level."

"An artificial pokemon?" Quill asked. "How can something like that even exist?"

"Well there are a lot of pokemon that were originally made by humans, even where you come from. Pokemon created using an XD program are different though. It's possible that Zoroark even used a similar program to alter how Blue and Capricorn thing. The first pokemon known to be made with a program like this, believe it or not, was actually Shadow Lugia. If you remember from the legend, Shadow got his name from Espeon. The human that created Shadow had originally called him XD001."

"Couldn't even give him a real name…" Quill said sadly.

"This one is special though." Faris said. "Most programs are used directly on a pokemon by using that pokemon as a sort of shell created for the AI. It's done by running the program in a special computer while a pokemon is being cloned. This AI was never meant to be created for a cloned pokemon. It's a species of pokemon I'm not familiar with and I believe it was meant to live solely in an electronic device of some sorts, possibly even having the ability to move freely between computers."

"Zoroark could do a lot of damage with a pokemon like that." Aamira said. "Technology is hardly ever used because of the effects it could have to the environment, but they're still a huge part of the life of humans. Just thinking what would happen if this pokemon was under Zoroark's control and it snuck into a computer that was used in a hospital to stabilize a patient…"

"You see the gravity of this then." Faris said. "As far as I know, that's the only one of those pokemon so far and it's still in early development. You could just destroy it, or you could try to educate it properly and make sure it doesn't hurt anyone."

"I won't destroy it. XD programs are sentient, after all. It wouldn't feel right."

Faris smiled and nodded. He probably knew that this was going to be her response from the start.

It was near midnight and everyone was still caught up in the party. Some of them had become so caught up in the atmosphere that they had started to simultaneously smile, cry, and shout "Long live the queen!" to anyone within hearing distance. Aamira thought that she could sneak away for a few minutes without being noticed, so she crept into a deeper part of the forest and kept walking until the lights from the party and the sound of people's voices finally died away.

It was really dark here and a sudden chill sent goose bumps up Aamira's arms. She was used to this, since it happened every new moon around this time of night. She watched as her shadow, which was showing up clearly in the darkness from the light of the stars, started to move on its own. The shadow lifted off of the ground and that pokemon appeared in front of her and he was obviously furious.

"I'm sorry, I just got caught up in everything that was happening. I wasn't expecting my birthday to fall right on the one day of the month you can appear in this world." Aamira said.

"I had to remind you." Darkrai said. It was amazing how much he acted like a child at times, even though he was an ancient legendary pokemon. Years of being alone were probably what had done it.

"I know. It doesn't matter though, does it? You couldn't appear in front of all of those people anyway."

"The one day of the month…" Darkrai said, repeating what Aamira had said before.

"I know and I really am sorry. It was some way to repay you after you helped me escape the second time. I promise I won't forget ever again." Aamira held out her hand and Darkrai nodded and took it in his and the two of them stood just as they had in Darkrai's lake over two years ago.

Darkrai still felt as deathly cold as always, but Aamira didn't mind. Even after her soul had shattered, she had kept that piece of his and he had kept the piece of hers. They were connected in a way that they couldn't ever expect anyone else to understand. Even though Aamira had said many times that Quill was the closest thing she had to a partner that probably wasn't true. If anything, because of the pact they had made, Darkrai was probably the closest thing she had to a real partner.

"No more nightmares?" Darkrai asked.

Aamira shook her head. "Not one. Aside from last night, of course. I probably deserved it though. It's strange, but I kind of miss them. Always having a good dream or no dream at all gets boring after a while. I wouldn't mind having a nightmare or two. I've found it's a lot better to dream about terrible things than to be living them. That's probably why I haven't had any."

"Living in a nightmare… It doesn't matter."

"I know people rarely remember their dreams after they wake up, so even if you did try to visit me in my sleep it wouldn't matter much to you. Just that short time should be good enough until the new moon though, right?"

Darkrai seemed to ponder this for a moment and eventually nodded. Aamira found that Darkrai rarely spoke if he wasn't extremely emotional. It was usually when he got mad that he spoke the most, or when he had to explain something important. Aamira was one of the few who could even hear Darkrai, but she didn't need to hear much to understand him. It used to be that his voice, which she could somehow hear without hearing, had been the strangest thing she had ever heard. Now that she had become a human again, it was similar to how she heard any other pokemon, whose voices were usually infused with growling or chirping or whatever noise a human would only be able to hear.

"You're deaf friend is here." Darkrai said.

Aamira turned and saw Lucario standing in between the trees she had walked through to get to this area of the forest. He was staring, almost petrified, at Darkrai. It seemed like darkness still scared him even after all that they had been through. Aamira felt Darkrai's hand slip away from her own and turned to see him retreating into the shadows of the trees.

"Why did he run?" Lucario asked.

"Because you scared him." Aamira said, as if this was the most obvious thing. "Fear can turn to hatred and hatred becomes violence. Darkrai might look scary, but that doesn't mean he likes violence."

"I-I won't hurt you…" Lucario stammered as he spoke to the trees. Apparently the tone in his voice wasn't very convincing because he didn't come back out, although Aamira could sense that he was still in the area. Anyone would have been able to, just by walking into the area and feeling the abnormal chill in the air.

"I know you're trying for my sake, but I think it comes off as more offensive than anything." Aamira said with a weak smile. "Well don't mind him, what did you want?"

"To show you your present." Lucario said.

"Show me?" Aamira asked.

Lucario knelt down on the ground, placing both of his paws on the ground at a shoulder's length apart. He closed his eyes and the aura sensors on the back of his head rose into the air. Aamira jumped and looked at the ground around her feet. She could almost feel the ground move under her feet as he manipulated the energy in the earth with his own. The plants around them seemed to move on their own, in spite of the lack of wind.

Lucario's arms were starting to shake with the effort and still nothing was happening. Then from out between the leaves and the grass on the ground, small flecks of light appeared. It was hard to tell what they were at first, until they grew in size and burst into bloom. The small area of the forest was suddenly transformed into a field of glowing flowers. They resembled water lilies, as the Solar Flowers and Lunar Flowers had, but these were something else. They were a deep purple with flecks of acid green near the center of the pedals and glowed with a somewhat eerie dark light. They smelled like a mix between nectar and sulfur, which didn't seem to go together and yet worked surprisingly well. While the Solar and Lunar Flowers had glowed with sunlight and moonlight, this was something entirely different.

"What are they?" Aamira asked.

"It's not a very creative name, but I call them Dragon Flowers." Lucario said. "Because of my silver aura, I can make Lunar Flowers anywhere, but I found out I could make Solar Flowers in Atra by using the earth's energy. I thought that I would do the same here, but the energy here doesn't have a golden aura. I wasn't even sure if it would work at first, but I thought I'd try to use the dragon force instead and this was the result. There was something strangely appealing about them and I thought you'd like them."

"They're incredible!" Aamira knelt down on the ground next to one of the flowers and touched the pedals. As long as it wasn't picked, it seemed like a solid object, but the second it was severed from the ground, it would just disappear. There was something vaguely familiar about the glow of these flowers. It was something comforting and incredibly warm. She remembered how twilight was said to be the most beautiful time of day in her home town. This, she thought, must be that soft glow of twilight.

"You know, it's really rare for someone to be able to control the dragon force." Aamira said. "This really is amazing."

"Yes, quite amazing." The two of them looked up to see that they were entirely surrounded by a pack of Mightyena.

Lucario's first thought was that they were alphas, but then he remembered that they didn't exist in Neltona. "Who are you?" he asked.

The Mightyena that had spoken growled and hunched down as if preparing to attack. "We live in this territory. We should be the ones asking you who you are."

"There are more than just these two." Another Mightyena said. "I saw a whole pack of humans and pokemon a good distance away from here, just outside of our territory."

One of the other Mightyena growled and walked towards them. "Give us a reason why we shouldn't tear you to pieces right this instant?"

"Because I told you not to." All of the Mightyena straightened up and looked off into the direction where the voice had come from. Another Mightyena, slightly larger than the others, walked forward followed by a human boy, who they assumed had been the one who had spoken. "Those who control the dragon force are rare. The girl can do it too, but I don't think she realizes."

Aamira stood up and backed away so she was standing closer to Lucario. She didn't know why, but this guy really made her skin crawl. There was just something about him that didn't seem natural. How would he know if she could use the dragon force if she didn't know it herself? From this she guessed the unnatural feeling that she was getting was that she could sense he could use it too.

"I believe you are the same one who helped a brother of mine, in fact." One of the Mightyena who had stayed silent until now said. He turned to the human boy and spoke again. "She smells similar to a pokemon, just like you do. Just like that kid said she did. We owe these two a debt."

They guessed that they were referring to the Mightyena who they met on their way to the Mirror Palace. So they had made it here safely after all.

"A debt?" the human said. "Hardly. That Mightyena ended up being the one to protect his partner in the end and ended up saving them as well. His debt was repaid long before he reached our territory."

"You're territory?" Lucario said. "You live here with these Mightyena?"

"He's as good as one of us." The Mightyena who had entered the clearing with him said. They assumed that she must have been his partner and that this somehow made him the leader of the entire pack, even though he wasn't even the same species as the other pack members.

Aamira jumped as she felt something cold brush against her arm. She turned to her right and found that Darkrai had reappeared next to her. He was staring straight at the human and he was staring back, unblinking and unfazed. Whoever this human was, Aamira was already impressed.

"That's the one from her nightmares." Darkrai said to Aamira.

"Who's nightmares?" Aamira asked, making Lucario jump, since he hadn't realized that Darkrai had reappeared.

"That girl Cyndaquil. She dreams about humans. Every night she dreams of Zoroark, both disguised as Xerxes and as he truly is. She dreams of his Houndoom too. She dreams of every human that she had ever seen in this world. He appeared in her dream last. The boy with the black hair and blue eyes."

Aamira turned back to the human and looked closer at his eyes. It was hard to see because of how dark it was, but because of the faint light of the Dragon Flowers, she could just barely make out a sliver of blue in his eyes.

"So you know that Cyndaquil?" he asked.

Aamira looked back and fourth between Darkrai and the human. "You can hear him?"

"Should I not be able to?" he asked. Aamira was already getting tired of his voice, which constantly had a lazy and uncaring tone to it.

"Why is she having nightmares about you? Have you hurt her?" Aamira asked accusingly.

"Of course not!" his partner growled.

"It's okay, Nana." He said to his partner. "It's an easy assumption to make. Why would a child have nightmares about me? The obvious conclusion would be that I caused some sort of trauma. This isn't the case, however. It seems that just about everything traumatizes that child. She hasn't spoken a word to anyone since her rescue."

"If that's true, then let her go." Aamira said. "Her older brother has been worrying about her for weeks now. He's only a few yards away and he has no idea that she's here. Once she sees her brother, she's sure to get better."

"Such a simple way of thinking." He said with the same blank expression. "And what would you give us in return. Either way you look at it, whether we rescued her or not, we are kidnappers. I expect some sort of trade from it."

"Well what do you want?" Lucario asked. He was almost tempted to ask him what he could want. If pokemon lived such simple lives away from humans and this kid was living like a pokemon, surely he wouldn't be after money.

He didn't answer right away, which led Lucario to believe that he had been correct in thinking that he didn't really want anything. Eventually he looked away from Lucario and back towards Aamira. "You. Come with me. We'll discuss this back at the den."

Aamira was just barely able to keep from shouting at him. She had never heard such a rude tone from anyone. Even so, she didn't want to do something that might make him take it out on Daisy. She moved towards him slowly so she wouldn't give the Mightyena any reason to attack her. When Lucario tried to follow, a couple of Mightyena growled and ran in his path, cutting him off from Aamira.

"It's okay." Aamira assured him. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon with Daisy."

Lucario hated not being able to do anything to make sure she didn't get hurt. He turned to Darkrai, who was still standing to his right. "Follow them and make sure they don't hurt her."

Darkrai held his gaze for such a long time that Lucario wondered if he was trying to say something. Eventually Darkrai just nodded and disappeared into the shadows.

Quill had noticed Aamira sneaking off before and he noticed Lucario following after her a few minutes later. He thought that the two of them could probably use some time alone since the last time they were able to spend some time alone was probably when the two of them had been traveling together in the Other world. He wasn't sure how the two of them were getting along nowadays and he doubted either of them really knew for sure either, so some time to talk with no one else around was probably just what they needed.

Even so, how long had it been since they left? Quill gazed around anxiously at the party guests who had started to notice Aamira's absence. He had covered for her by saying that she had gone to put her presents inside so she wouldn't have to sit them down somewhere where they would get dirty. He could tell that Darach and Faris hadn't bought this, but they went along with the story. Now they were starting to get worried.

Somewhere in the distance, a shrill scream brought everyone to silence. They all looked in the distance that the noise had come from, but nothing was happening. After a few minutes, Faris was really on edge and was about to go see what had happened when a small peach, colored figure came running out of the brush. She kept running until she noticed how many people were there and she stopped, curled up into a ball on the ground, and the fire on her back came to life.

"Daisy!?" Quill ran forward and crouched down next to her, but before he could even touch her, she screamed again and her fire flared up more. Quill looked up towards the sound of moving foliage and saw Aamira and Lucario running after Daisy. He winced at the sight of them. Lucario's legs and the palms of Aamira's hands were both badly burnt and the Joy Ribbon that Quill had given Daisy was hanging limply from Aamira's hands and was almost unrecognizable from the fire damage. Could Daisy have done something like that? He didn't care about the Joy Ribbon, but he never thought that Daisy was ever capable of hurting anyone like this.

"What happened?" Quill asked.

"It's a long story." Aamira said. "She's been through a lot and I think I might have scared her. It looks like she's completely terrified by humans."

"It's okay." Quill said. "Daisy, it's me, Quill. You're safe now."

At the sound of Quill's name, she scream and her fire burned brighter as she rolled up tighter.

"Daisy, please listen to me." Quill pleaded with her. He reached out and tried to wrap his arms around his sister, but almost immediately she straightened up and bit Quill on the arm as hard as she could.

"Back off!" Aamira shouted at him.

Quill was so startled by the sudden hostility in Aamira's voice that he did just that. He hurried to back away as far as he could without bumping into anyone from the crowd of onlookers. Almost immediately Daisy started to calm down and her fire died down. It was then that Quill realized that Daisy wasn't just terrified of humans, she was terrified of him. He couldn't understand how this had happened. For Daisy to suddenly fear her older brother who she had idolized since the day she hatched, what had Zoroark done to her?


	11. Chapter 11 Phantoms

Quill could barely contain all of his grief and anger inside him. Even in the hours that followed Daisy's rescue, she wouldn't look at anyone, she wouldn't walk on her own or eat on her own, and she just couldn't tolerate being anywhere near her beloved older brother. Quill was forced to stay at least five feet away at all times just to keep her from panicking.

"I love you, Daisy. I really do." He whispered under his breath. Daisy apparently heard something of his voice because she tensed up a little more, but it passed after a couple of minutes.

"How's she doing?" Aamira asked as she walked up behind Quill.

"Not good." Quill said. "How did you know that I was the one she was afraid of?"

"When I first found her I went to pick her up and carry her back because she seemed to be too scared to move on her own. When I did that I mentioned your name and she freaked out and burned my hands. Then when she came running back and you walked up to her, it was the same.

"It's not an uncommon thing for Zoroark to do actually, though normally he only does it with traitors. Instead of punishing a person directly, it would be more efficient to hurt the ones they love and make them realize that they're the reason their friends and family are in pain. He thought of a different method though. Instead of hurting the innocent, who might make perfectly good servants in the future, he uses his illusions to make that person see their loved ones doing all sorts of terrible things. In the end, that person's loved ones would be alive and well, but that person would start to wish they weren't. They'd have no one left but Zoroark."

"That's terrible!" Quill shouted, making the flames on Daisy's back flare up. Then in a lower voice he asked, "Did he ever do that to you?"

Aamira smiled weakly. "Fortunately for me, he just decided to kill off the only two people I ever had before losing my memory. Afterwards the only people I had existed in an entirely different world and I could see through his illusions anyway so it didn't really matter. Most of my life, he was all I had anyway, so it's not like something like that would be necessary for someone as obedient as myself."

"But with Daisy, everyone she knew was in our world too." Quill said.

"Well would she know that?" Aamira asked. "Would she be able to realize that she had been taken to an entirely different world? And even if she was able to, what do you think she would think? She would think her older brother would be sure to rescue her. There is something that's a little worrying though. That guy from the Mirror Palace who just recently joined the resistance said that his Raticate would bring food to Daisy and from his Raticate he found out that Daisy was waiting for you to rescue her. So from that we would have to assume that Zoroark must have done this only a short time before we showed up."

"Do you think that he knew we were heading there?" Quill asked.

"It's possible. And from that we could probably assume that he knows Faris is a traitor. There are just so many uncertainties that have been brought up from this."

"Such as why he would do this in the first place." Quill said. "Why do this to Daisy? It's not like she's a traitor."

"I do have one theory, but I'm not really sure about it just yet. I'll keep it to myself for the time being."

Quill tilted his head in confusion. It wasn't like Aamira not to tell him something if it was important. Since this involved Daisy, he assumed it would be important enough to tell him. She had a strange way of thinking and sometimes she wouldn't tell him certain things until the last minute, so he just decided to trust her on this, even if it did seem a little strange.

All three of them were exhausted from staying up the entire night. Aamira especially. As soon as she and Lucario came back with Daisy, everyone had questions for her and she agreed to tell them everything about the guy from the Mightyena pack.

Darkrai had followed after them and hid in Aamira's shadow, but he was able to tell that Aamira wasn't alone from the start. Either way, he didn't really care since it wasn't meant to be any sort of hostile exchange. In fact, he didn't seem to care much about anything.

On their way back to the den, his partner told Aamira basically his entire life story. When he was just a baby, he was discovered by his partner, who he affectionately referred to as "Nana" and she raised him from the time he was born. Having once been contracted by one of the many shepherds of Neltona, Nana knew a lot about humans and even how to raise them. She remembered that the family that she had once worked for was expecting a baby right before her contract ended. They had been planning on naming it either Jade or Alan depending on what gender it was. When their son was finally born, he was incapable of breathing on his own and died shortly after. Nana, being a Mightyena and therefore extremely devoted to family, was extremely shaken by this. She ended her contract early and returned to her pack. When she found that baby human all alone in the forest, hidden between the roots of a tree, she decided to give that child a second chance and named him Alan after the child who never had that chance.

So Alan grew up raised on a strange mix between Mightyena and human upbringing, though behavior-wise he tended to lean more towards a pokemon's typical personality than a humans. Nana had told Aamira at this point that even though this was the case, Alan always seemed a little different from both human and pokemon children. He seemed to detach himself from most people and never tried to make friends. He barely talked to anyone if he could help it. He talked mostly with Nana, but still seldom spoke. They had a silent understanding that they both cared for each other though, so Nana knew he was a good person even though he didn't often show it.

When he was older, he told Nana that he wanted to try living with humans. There wasn't anything leading up to this, no indication that he was curious about humans until then; he just came out with this one day entirely out of the blue. Nana was worried at first, but of course she eventually agreed. He got a job working as a blacksmith's apprentice in Granville. Nana, who had ascended to the Alpha position in her pack, was unable to go with him, although she watched over him from the hills around the city and checked in on him regularly.

He seemed to be doing well for about a month then he came storming back one night, ranting about human morals. It was the most that Nana had ever heard him talk before.

"Why was he ranting about human morals?" Quill asked at this point in the story. "I never thought that humans were all that bad."

"Well up until a few years ago, Scolipede hunting was still legal. They have really hard and flexible exoskeletons that are good for making armor, but the amount of protection they provide diminishes after they're shed. So instead of waiting for the Scolipede to shed their shells, blacksmiths used to pay people to hunt Scolipede and bring back the shells while they were still fresh." Aamira explained.

"That's disgusting." Quill said as he imagined the shells being torn from the body of some poor pokemon.

Aamira continued with her story from there to get rid of any mental images. Nana had told her that after Alan returned, he became entirely devoted to the pack. He would help them hunt, would babysit the younger Poochyena, and would help to fight off other packs that tried to invade their territory. In one such fight against a rival pack, Nana ended up with a bad bite on one of her back legs. It became infected and Alan immediately stepped up and took command of the pack while nursing her back to health. After she finally recovered, she gave her title up for good. She was sure that Alan was determined to live as a pokemon and therefore trusted him with the pack entirely.

Nana was still worried that Alan would never meet a human who he could trust entirely. Even though he got along better with pokemon, she thought it would be best if he eventually did live with humans full time. Eventually she convinced him to become an apprentice to one of Neltona's many shepherds and assured him that they respected the feelings of pokemon more than blacksmiths did. Even so, he still spent more time with the pack than in the fields with the Mareep.

After they finally got to the den, they started negotiations. Apparently among Mightyena this meant a battle. It was a strange thing, two humans fighting instead of having their pokemon fight for them. It lasted a long time too. Normally Aamira would be able to fight a human with no proper training and beat them easily, but this was the guy who defeated all of those Dellevan guards and their pokemon singlehanded back at the Mirror Palace. At the very least, she could say that she at least was able to hold her own for a while.

Eventually Nana made them stop, saying that they were getting too serious. At the end they finally settled on a trade and Aamira was able to get Daisy out of there, even if it was by chasing her after she panicked when she heard Quill's name.

"So what did you end up giving him in return for Daisy?" Quill asked.

"Something that I had been trying to get rid of since the moment I got it." Aamira said irritably.

So it looked like Aamira was keeping more than one secret, although Quill didn't really care. He was more worried about Daisy. They tried for hours before they finally found the one thing that could get her to calm down; listening to Aamira's music box. After only a couple of minutes of listening to it, she fell asleep.

After an entire day, this was the extent of their progress. Eventually Aamira made Quill go to bed so that he could get some rest. She left her music box down in the room where Daisy was staying so that Daisy wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night. Quill eventually fell into an uneasy sleep himself, only to be woken up by Aamira after what he felt must have been only minutes.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

"Remember what the original plan was?" Aamira asked. "We were going to head to Neltona and stay here until we find Daisy, then we would take her back home. I know Faris is never going to agree to it, but I don't think it's healthy for Daisy to stay here."

"So we're just going to take Daisy and run for it?" Lucario asked. "Doesn't sound very courteous after your aunt and uncle have been taking care of us for the last few days."

"I know, I know." Aamira said. "Do you really think they'll let me leave though? Without circling all the way around to the west side of the mountain, there's only one way up Mt. Victoria and I'm the only one who knows how to find it."

"Why do we have to go to Mt. Victoria?" Quill asked.

"It's where the Bronzong live." Aamira explained. "Once a year they open a portal to another world to let rain fall in Dellevis. It hardly ever rains otherwise. They're the reason I was able to get to Atra the first time. I don't know if we'll be able to go directly to your world using their help, but it would be better for Daisy than staying in this world."

"Well okay, that make sense, but once we cross the border we'll have the Alphas and Dellevan guards to worry about again. How are we supposed to keep from getting caught?" Lucario asked.

To this, Aamira answered a question with a question. "Can you keep up with a Rapidash?"

Lucario was about to make some retort, but whatever it was suddenly vanished from his mind as he realized just what Aamira was implying.

Apparently Ul decided that they had had enough excitement the previous night and that they all needed rest, because he never came upstairs to wake them up. Since Lucario could see aura, he volunteered to go down into the basement to get Daisy. Quill and Aamira snuck out the back and down to the stables. It was an overcast night and the moon wouldn't have started shining again just yet anyway, so for once it would be safe to travel at night.

Capricorn seemed to be somewhat reluctant to move, most likely because he sensed the coming rainstorm, but at the promise of the sunny skies of Dellevis, which he must have missed so badly, he finally started to follow Aamira's instructions again.

Aamira had tried to ride on Capricorn's back before, but that was more just for fun and not for any long rides. She ended up having to steal a saddle and a set of reins from her uncle, much to the noisy protest of the Zebstrika and Blitzle. It took Aamira a while to explain the situation to them, but in the end they agreed to stay quiet and explain the situation to Emolga if she came by and realized that the saddle was missing.

They met up with Lucario by the well in the forest where the secret passage let out. He was covered in several more burns that Quill flinched at the sight of and was holding Daisy and Aamira's music box in both arms.

Quill sat in front of Aamira on Capricorn's back, holding Daisy and the music box in place. It wasn't the most ideal positioning, but it was the best they could do in this situation. Lucario would run along beside them keeping a lookout for danger and protecting them if need be.

It was amazing how fast the journey was when riding on the back of a Rapidash. The journey from the manor to the border, which had taken them a week going in the other direction, only took them until sunrise. They didn't meet any hostile pokemon on the way there and by the time they reached Mt. Victoria, the sun was still high. Normally they wouldn't have made it there until nightfall if Capricorn had been running the same speed the whole time, but they assumed that once he felt the sunlight, it gave him a boost of speed. It was a good thing too, because in the dark they never would have found what they were looking for.

Normally there was a natural cave that ran up the side of the mountain, but when Aamira found the entrance, which would have been hidden in the dark, she noticed that something looked different. She had been there once before since returning to this world and she didn't remember the crack in the side of the stone looking to large or the inside being so dark, in spite of the sun shining almost directly into it.

"It's not a dungeon, is it?" Quill asked.

"Looks like it." Aamira said. "Victini's been trying to set up a domain here for years, but he's pretty young compared to most legendary pokemon, so he hasn't had any success up until now. I hope nothing happened."

"We should keep moving." Lucario said. "I don't like the idea of standing out here in the open."

Quill and Aamira nodded and followed Lucario into the dungeon. Daisy stayed in Capricorn's saddle and Aamira led Capricorn so that he would walk along next to her. She had been awake for a while now, but Daisy seemed so tired that she was hardly moving and not protesting at all at being led through the mountains.

Just after they walked through the dungeon entrance, Aamira stopped having suddenly remembered something.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"It might be a domain, but it's still a dungeon, right?" Aamira said. "My Aura Glass broke and Daisy and Capricorn don't even have one."

"We'll have to get through here quickly then." Quill said.

It was true that they didn't really have much of an option. Even so, it felt that almost from the second she walked into the dungeon that she started to get a headache somewhere above her right temple.

"You're the expert in this world." Lucario said. "Is there anything we should know about these dungeons?"

"The same rules apply for the most part. No one has ever gone through here in this world with an Aura Glass, but I assume the same rules would apply. Since Daisy and Capricorn don't have one, if one of them get's knocked out, they won't be kicked from the dungeon. Since you never joined our team, I think you would be counted as a separate party from me or Quill, so if one of us gets knocked out, you wouldn't be forced from the dungeon. The same goes for the reverse, most likely. I don't know how my broken Aura Glass is going to affect it though. It's possible that I'll be stuck in here if I get knocked out. Come to think of it though, I have no idea how it would work on a human or whether the dungeon would even affect me."

"Is there anything specific we should be looking out for?" Quill asked. "Special items or something that only exist in this world?"

"Most items, if there are any in here, are really rare. It will most likely be berries or other fruits. If we find any TMs, that would be helpful though. There are a few attacks that the two of you would only be able to learn in this world and TMs made by humans are much better than ones made by pokemon. The TMs that are made by humans don't break after one use and can be used over and over again.

"Oh and the pokemon are most likely a lot more violent. Unlike pokemon in other dungeons, the pokemon here are determined to protect what's at the end of the dungeon, which in this case would be Victini. What's even worse is that they haven't completely lost their senses. Since they can still think for themselves to some degree, that can make them smarter and more dangerous."

"If they're smarter, can't we just explain to them why we have to get to the top of the mountain?" Lucario asked.

"It doesn't work that way." Aamira said. "Smart or not, they're really determined to protect the pokemon that created the dominion, which would be Victini in this case. They're not about to listen to reason where Victini is concerned, even if it's just getting to the top of the mountain where Victini lives."

Sure enough, once they got deeper into the dungeon, they were being attack left and right by pokemon that seemed determined to protect something. Sometimes they would even attack in groups in a way that it was almost like battling rival Investigation Teams, which they knew from experience wasn't easy. It was even harder when trying to protect Capricorn and Daisy. Above all else, they couldn't let the dungeon pokemon hurt them.

After a while, they finally found a safe alcove to stop and rest. Aamira immediately slumped against the wall, clutching at the right side of her head. The headache had gotten worse the farther they went in.

"Are you alright?" Quill asked.

At first Aamira was going to just say that she was out of habit, but she knew by now that Quill wouldn't be fooled. "I don't know. My head's been hurting since we got here."

"Just more of a reason to get out of here as soon as possible." Lucario said. "This is more taxing than I thought it would be."

Capricorn slumped on the ground, grateful for a few minutes of rest after a full day of running and walking through a dungeon. While Capricorn was laying on the ground, Daisy slid off of his back onto the floor. She took a few steps towards the three of them and looked as if she was about so say something, but then backed up and sat next to Capricorn. Aamira didn't look directly at her, but she still kept an eye on her out of the corner of her eye in case she tried to run. The last thing they needed was for their weakest party member to go running off in such a dangerous place.

After a couple of minutes, Lucario got up and walked over to Daisy. When she realized that Lucario was walking towards her, she rolled up into a ball again and flared up the fire on her back.

"It's alright." Lucario said. "You don't have to be afraid of everything, you know? What have I ever done to you?"

Daisy had her head buried under her arms, but after she realized that Lucario wasn't going to go away, she chanced a glance up at him. She didn't ever really look at anyone directly, she usually just looked at their feet or hands, but right after she caught sight of Lucario's face, she seemed to calm down.

Lucario knelt down next to her and placed a paw on her back. She tensed up slightly, but didn't attempt to burn him this time. "I want to be your friend, okay? We all do. If you don't want to talk to Aamira or Quill, you can always talk to me."

Daisy shook her head and hid her face again. Just the fact that she responded at all, even if she still didn't speak, was a huge improvement.

"How did you know that she wouldn't be scared of you?" Aamira asked when they continued on their way.

"I'm not entirely sure." Lucario said. "It was just an idea I had. We had both been captured around the same time and were held in the same camp. Normally she would be afraid of any humans or canines and Quill of course because of what Zoroark did. She should be terrified of all three of us then. I just thought that maybe she might recognize me and remember that I was in the same situation."

"What's that over there?" Quill asked. Out of the three of them, he was unfortunately the only one who was paying attention to where they were going. Up ahead of them, there was a set of stone doors with something written on it in a strange language. "It kind of reminds me of the Spear Pillar."

"That's ancient Therian. I recognize it by now, but I can't really read it." Aamira said. "Oh! I forgot!"

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"There is one huge difference between dominions and regular dungeons. Dominions have something called a mid-boss." Aamira said. "As the name suggests, it's a boss that you fight in the middle of a dungeon rather than at the end. Usually just because of how the energy flows through it, dungeons are weakest at the center and the center is usually a safe place. If you think of a dominion as a sort of security system, the mid-boss is there to make up for that weakness."

"And that's on the other side of this door?" Quill asked.

"Most likely." Aamira said. "Like I said, I've never actually been inside a dominion like this before. I guess there's nothing more to do than to walk in and see what's there."

The three of them pushed against the old stone doors until they swung inward. They immediately stood up straight, ready to fight the pokemon waiting for them on the other side. What they saw wasn't exactly what they had expected.

Near the center of the room, there was an unconscious Garchomp, covered in scars from the countless battles it had fought in the past. Aamira stared around the room at the shadowy transparent pokemon that stalked slowly towards them. It was obvious to her that they were just illusions, but, judging from their reactions, Lucario and Quill couldn't tell otherwise.

"They're just illusions. They can't affect anything that's substantial, so they shouldn't be able to hurt you."

"Tell that to him!" Lucario said, indicating the unconscious Garchomp on the ground. He used aura sphere on one that resembled a Scyther that had gotten a little too close to him, but it went right through it and hit the wall behind it. The Scyther dug its claws into the ground, leaving deep claw marks in the stone, as it sped towards Lucario and hit him with Fury Cutter. One of its scythes got Lucario on the arm, but luckily it didn't do much more damage than it would have if it had been a real Scyther.

"This doesn't make sense…" Aamira said as she drew her wooden sword, which was all she had to defend herself. "They shouldn't be able to actually touch anything. Why is it that they can attack us but we can't attack them?"

"Well we're going to have to do something." Quill stepped forward and used Flamethrower on the enemies in front of them. Again, the flames passed right through them and they were left completely unharmed. The pokemon that attacked them could hit them as much as they wanted and never get injured.

Aamira swung her wooden sword wildly at an attacking pokemon. The first few times the blade passed straight through it, but then she felt the sword come in contact with something. She watched as the illusion suddenly vanished and a small white stone flew away from where the pokemon had been standing.

"What was that?" Lucario asked.

"Looks like Zoroark found a new way to use Leuminite." Aamira said. "You must need to hit them with a certain amount of force."

"That might work, if it were possible for us to see where it was." Quill said. "We can't see through illusions like you can."

Aamira could barely see the small stones herself. They apparently didn't need to be very big, so it was difficult to see them through what appeared to be black smoke which made up the pokemon. Every time Aamira managed to spot one of the stones, she would swing her sword had it and hopefully manage to hit it and destroy the illusion that was bound to it. The only problem was that the pokemon were still attacking them and the stones were still almost impossible to hit even after Aamira spotted them.

In the end, they were all pretty badly hurt, but they had managed to make it through. Aamira managed to take out the majority of the illusions and Quill and Lucario got in a few lucky hits themselves. Capricorn had a few bad cuts on his side, but he had managed to keep Daisy safe, which seemed to have become his top priority.

The Garchomp finally started to stir and lifted himself weakly to his feet and looked around at the room, which had been wrecked in the fight, then looked at the five of them.

"Did you get rid of those monstrosities?" he asked in a deep gravely voice.

"Yea. I know you're supposed to guard this dungeon, but we're all hurt and we really need to get to the top of this mountain." Aamira said. "I'm not much of a fighter, since I'm a human as you can see, and one of our company is just a kid who can barely control her fire yet. We're really in no fit state to fight you."

"And you can understand me, human?" Garchomp asked, to which Aamira nodded. "How unusual. I'll give this victory to you, if your need really is dire. I was defeated by those beasts and you all were able to defeat them, so as far as I'm concerned, you have bested me." Garchomp turned and roared at the wall and a section of the wall collapsed revealing the stairs up to the next area.

They all thanked Garchomp and hurried on up the stairs. They all had a suspicion that he would have still fought them if he hadn't been just as badly injured and outnumbered. After that run in with the illusion pokemon, the rest of the pokemon didn't seem that strong. By the time they got up to the top of the mountain, the sun was setting.

As they were climbing a slope up to the top of the mountain, Aamira turned to her left to look at the capitol city, Inari, to see if it really did look amazing in the sunset as she had heard. The castle stood out vividly against the rest of the small buildings. It looked as though it was big enough to hold an entire other city inside of it and was made in such a strange way that towers were suspended off of the side of other towers and there were several bridges connecting them. Because of the odd way it was made, it was sometimes referred to as Maze Castle.

The only other building that stood out compared to the rest of the smaller buildings was a clock tower in the town square. Even from here, they could hear the bell ring as the clock struck five. It really did look amazing in the light of the sunset, but it would probably look even better from inside the city. Aamira wondered what it would look like from the top of the clock tower.

"What are you all doing here?" Victini asked as they came upon the peak of the mountain.

"It's nice to see you too." Aamira said. "Listen, can you get the Bronzong to make a portal to Quill's world?"

"Hold on a second, you're not supposed to be here!" Victini said. "Did you all really come all this way on your own?"

"It's not like it was that dangerous…" Quill said.

"Not that dangerous!?" Victini said. "Don't you know the Alphas are training in this area? Why do you think I created that dungeon?"

"Well you know there was something worse than Alphas that got in there." Aamira said. She told him about the strange illusions they had encountered in the dungeon and was somewhat pleased when Victini's expression slowly turned to one of horror.

"I had heard about them." Victini said. "Mienshao came across some of them while in the forest a few days ago, but I didn't think they would actually get that far. He said they were smoky and sort of shadow like. Like phantoms."

"Great, first there were shadow pokemon, then nightmares, now phantom pokemon?" Aamira said. "Things just got a whole lot more dangerous."

"If you're going to go, I suggest you do it now." Victini said. "Come back as soon as you can and I'll arrange for someone to fly you back to Neltona."

They followed Victini to a dais at the back of the flattened mountain peak. Stretching from the two V shaped peaks of the mountain was a pole, on which a couple of Bronzong were hanging from while they slept.

"What's wrong with Victini?" Quill asked Aamira. "He doesn't seem as cheerful as usual."

"He worries too easily." Aamira said. "I really should have sent a message ahead to let him know we were coming, but I didn't want anyone to catch on to what we were doing. Plus there was a chance that he might try to warn someone so they would keep us from running off."

Victini woke up the two Bronzong and, after a little arguing, they finally agreed to open a portal. The two of them swung from the pole, creating a deep ringing sound, not unlike the bell in the clock tower. The air between them started to ripple and seemed to split apart, revealing a lake surrounded by tons of different types of flowers and berry trees. Aamira took a deep breath as the familiar smell of Lake Harmony reached her. Even Daisy looked up to see the familiar sight.

They decided to leave Capricorn behind so he wouldn't be too startled by being in a different world. Daisy ran on ahead of them and they followed her through a moment later. They had finally returned to Quill's world, but now there was something else they would have to worry about. They already knew that Daisy was terrified of Quill, but who else would she be scared of?


	12. Chapter 12 Zoroark's Messenger

When they first stepped through the portal back to Quill's world, it felt as if the ground were shifting beneath their feet. The sudden shift in the world's energy was so sudden, that it was enough to make them dizzy. After having spent weeks in Aamira's world, Quill, Lucario, and Daisy had grown accustomed to the dragon force. After having spent years in her own world, Aamira had forgotten what any other energy felt like. Maybe it was this sudden shift that made her headache suddenly worse.

"We're out of the dungeon now." Quill said. "Why is your head still hurting?"

"I'm sure it will pass." Aamira glanced over at Daisy, who wasn't curled up in fear as she was before, but still ignoring them to the best of her ability. "More importantly, what do we do from here?"

"Maybe I should just go into town and let people know what happened." Quill said. "You two can stay here with Daisy and keep an eye on her."

Lucario and Aamira nodded and Quill ran off into town. They could both tell that he would have preferred to stay with Daisy, but that wasn't really an option under the circumstances. Besides, Lucario didn't know the people in Vine City well enough yet and Aamira was a little worried about how she would be received now that she was a human again. It was better this way.

After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Quill came running back with Typhlosion, Espeon, Chansey, and Noctowl. Espeon was so happy when she first saw Daisy that she was just about to run over to her before Noctowl stopped her with an extended wing. It looked like Quill had been able to explain the danger of approaching Daisy in her condition. After this, they walked towards them more calmly than before.

"Daisy?" Espeon walked up to her daughter slowly. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"

Daisy turned to Espeon and started crying almost instantly. She ran over to her mother and hugged her. Espeon, who seemed surprised by this reaction, hesitated for a moment before returning her hug. At the very least, Daisy didn't seem to be terrified of the rest of the family, but this didn't seem to be the typical reaction that they would have expected.

"Well at least now that we know this, we can start trying some different forms of therapy without worrying about scaring her even more." Chansey said. "It doesn't look like she's been physically injured at all, which is good.

"Momma… Quill… Quill attacked…"

"What is it?" Espeon asked. "What did Quill do?"

Daisy whispered something into Espeon's ear so quietly that Quill seemed to be the only other person who heard it, due to his sensitive hearing. Quill's eyes widened and he took a step back from Daisy, which wasn't really necessary considering he was already a good distance away. Espeon hugged her daughter tighter and tried to talk to her in a soothing voice. Eventually Daisy did start to calm down and Chansey recommended taking her home and putting her to bed early.

"You three should come too." Typhlosion said to Aamira, Quill, and Lucario. "You can stay at our house tonight." Lucario and Quill started after Typhlosion, but Aamira stayed rooted to the spot.

"But I'm…" Aamira hesitated and stopped speaking mid sentence. It was amazing how difficult it suddenly was to talk to a pokemon, which was an ability that she had always had in her world, even though no other human did. She couldn't believe how easy it had become to talk to strangers and how difficult it had become to talk to former friends.

'No, they're still friends.' Aamira thought. 'Nothing's changed other than my appearance.'

"What's the matter?" Noctowl said. "For one who's usually so brave, you don't seem to have the same bravado that you usually do. Are you feeling okay?"

"Oh! Uh, yea of course…" Aamira said as she ran off after the others.

Aamira had never been inside Espeon's first house, or anyone's house aside from their base, town hall, and a couple of shops for that matter, but it did seem like a nice house. It was a lot like their first team base only a lot smaller. Most of the residential buildings were made into the hollows of the smaller trees. The ground floor was where the kitchen and dining room was. It was just big enough to fit in a table, a counter, and a wood burning oven. The next floor was something like a living room, where they would probably have to stay the night, which consisted of a few chairs and cushions, most likely made at Vileplume's shop. On the top floor were the bedrooms. There were only two of them; one that was shared by Espeon and Typhlosion whenever Typhlosion was in town, and one that belonged to Daisy, which she would sometimes share with Quill.

Espeon made a quick meal for Daisy and brought it up to her in her bedroom. After that, they all ate a hasty dinner before heading up to the second floor.

"So what exactly happened that day you and Daisy vanished?" Typhlosion asked Quill. Quill filled him in on everything that had happened then and up to this point. He started by telling them about his mission to fight the rogue Houndoom and ended by telling them about the phantom pokemon they fought in the dungeon just before returning to this world.

"So this Zoroark person is the one behind kidnapping poor Daisy." Espeon said. "Alright then. If the two of you are going back to that world, I'm coming with you."

"No way! It's too dangerous!" Aamira said. "You saw what he did to Daisy. You can't understand what Zoroark's like unless you actually meet him in person.

"Aamira can see through illusions." Lucario said. "It could be that she's the only one who can really fight against Zoroark. I've met him before myself. He's not an ordinary enemy."

"I appreciate your concern," Espeon said, "but I won't have someone like this Zoroark hurting my children!"

'This is all because of me.' Aamira thought. 'If I had never tried to run away years ago and if I hadn't ended up in Atra, maybe none of this would be happening now.' It took her a minute to realize that by "her children" Espeon was referring to Aamira too, which made her feel even worse.

"When was the last time you were in a real battle?" Typhlosion asked Espeon. "I know you're mad, but Daisy needs you here. I hate to admit it, but I've never been that good of a father."

"We'll stop Zoroark for sure!" Quill said. "I promise we will; you don't have to worry! Daisy's my little sister. I want to stop Zoroark as much as you do."

"I know, I know." Espeon said. "I can't help but worry though. At least stay here for a few days. Just to make sure Daisy's okay. You heard what she said before, but I'm sure that deep down she knows that what she saw was just an illusion."

"Yea, of course." Quill said.

That night was a restless one for all three of them. They laid on the floor huddled together away from the window. Zoroark would most likely be able to see them even in this world. Even though the moon was now just a sliver in the sky, they couldn't risk being seen.

The next morning, Quill went to run some errands and talk with other team members to let them know that they were okay. Lucario decided to head back to Atra to make sure everything was okay there. He had left without telling anyone where he was going, so it was understandable. Aamira, having nothing else to do, stayed with Espeon. There wasn't any school that day, so Espeon stayed home.

"I don't see why you don't want to go outside." Espeon said to Aamira. "It's a nice day out and I'm sure that everyone will be thrilled to see you. There are a lot of people in Vine City who knew about you being human."

"Yea but just knowing about it is a lot different than actually seeing it." Aamira said. "Maybe I'll go out later."

"Well for now, could you bring Daisy her breakfast? I have to finish grading these papers for tomorrow and I thought that with all of the recent excitement, I should get it done now rather than later when something important comes up."

"Sounds like a good idea." Aamira hadn't eaten yet either, so she grabbed a couple of extra apples thinking that she would just eat with Daisy.

Daisy was still in bed when Aamira went up to her room. She tried to pretend that she was still asleep, but realized that she wasn't fooling Aamira after Aamira refused to leave. She crawled out of bed and reluctantly sat by Aamira to eat breakfast.

"You seem to be doing a lot better now." Aamira said. "Are you glad to be home?"

Daisy nodded and bit into the apple that Aamira gave her. "Are you really a bandit?"

"A bandit?" Aamira asked. "Where did you get that idea?"

"That fox guy with the big claws said so. He said that you were a bandit that used to work with my big brother and that you made him do a bunch of bad things. All of the other kids said you were a bandit too. Miss Leavanny said that wasn't true though. But then she said not to tell anyone she said that, so I thought she was lying."

"If I was the one making your brother do a bunch of bad things, why do you talk to me and not to him?" Aamira asked.

"You don't seem like a bad person though." Daisy said. "The fox guy said that you lie a lot and that if I talked to you for a while that I would be able to tell. He said that you would give away a lot of secrets without realizing it."

Aamira tried to hide her surprise, but judging my Daisy's expression, she hadn't done a very good job of it. So that was what Zoroark was doing with Daisy. He wanted another spy. Or maybe a messenger? Just that one statement, that Aamira gave away a lot of secrets without realizing it, seemed to confirm Aamira's fears.

"The fox guy told me a lot about you." Daisy said. "But I don't know who you really are."

"How much do you know about Team Sleuth?" Aamira asked.

Daisy finished eating her breakfast before replying. It seemed to Aamira that she was trying to stall. "I know all of the members of Team Sleuth. Sometimes a few of them will come to play with me so I don't get lonely if Quill's ever away on a mission. I know that Team Sleuth got the Master Rank after Quill won the Investigator's Trilogy in Ignis. Quill's the leader of Team Sleuth and he was the best Investigator ever. Oh, but before that Houndoom showed up, he said something. He said that he used to have a partner."

"I was his partner." Aamira said.

Daisy stood up and started shouting. "No, you couldn't be! You're a human! How could you be an Investigation Team member!?"

"Not all humans are bad." Aamira said. "I was more than just one of the leaders of Team Sleuth. I was kind of like Quill's older sister. So I guess that would make me your big sister too."

"No you're not!" As she shouted, the flames on Daisy's back flared up. "That fox guy was telling the truth, wasn't he? He said you made up a bunch of stories to confuse Quill. He said that's why Quill acted so weird sometimes. Like when he just smiles and stares off into space. How am I supposed to know for sure that when he disappears for days on end that he's even really on a mission?"

"So you really do worry about him then? Daisy you have to listen to me. That fox makes illusions so realistic that you can't tell whether or not they're real. It's sort of like being in a really realistic dream. Whatever you saw Quill do didn't really happen."

"Then how do I know that any of what's happening now is real?" Daisy asked in a somewhat quieter voice.

"I guess there's no way for you to know that for sure." Aamira said. "Oh, but maybe there is. He's not a mind reader, so he doesn't know everything you do. If there was just one thing known only to you and Quill, you'd be able to tell for sure if you asked him about it, right?"

"Unless you really are a bandit and you made Quill tell you everything like that." Daisy pointed out.

"You're smart for being such a young kid." Aamira said. "You could make a good Investigator. You don't have to ask Quill though; you can ask a friend of yours. Maybe that Mudkip I've heard about."

"Oh, but… Snuffles is still with that fox, isn't he?"

"That was an illusion too. If you went and talked with him, he wouldn't remember anything that you do because he wasn't really there. That's how you can know for sure." Aamira stood up and walked towards the door. "I think I'm going to go for a walk around town. It's been a while since I've been here. You're not in a prison you know. You can come out of your room if you want."

Daisy nodded but didn't move. Even so, Aamira felt like she was at least able to get through to her. But then there was that other thing that Daisy mentioned. She said that Snuffles had been with Zoroark. Aamira knew for a fact that this wasn't true. So if that were the case, how did Zoroark know about that Mudkip? 'Because I told him.' Aamira thought. It was the only explanation. Aamira had seen Daisy and her friend in the Reflecting mirror many times. Her sense of time was often distorted. The apparent first time she spoke, she didn't remember all that well. She only knew it happened because Faris told her it did. How much information had Aamira given him on this world the whole time she thought she was resisting?

Aamira realized that questioning her actions was exactly what Zoroark wanted. Well, he won this battle. It was possible that Daisy might have been the initial target from the start. This would have to end soon before more people ended up getting hurt. The only way she could think of to end this was to finally turn in that mission.

When Aamira got to Lake Harmony, she was only somewhat surprised to find Quill standing there. It seemed like no matter what happened, they always ended up here in this spot.

"I talked to Daisy." Aamira said to Quill. "Not a one sided conversation either. It was like a full conversation."

"That's great!" Quill said. "Did… Did she tell you the illusion that Zoroark showed her?"

"No she didn't. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Quill shook his head. "Apparently he made her think that there was a sort of school. I'm guessing—hoping really—that the other kids were all illusions. Yesterday she said told Espeon that I attacked the other kids in the school and left her there."

"Well I'm going to put a stop to it now." Aamira knelt at the water's edge and put her hands on the surface so that just her palms barely touched it. The water around the place where Aamira touched the water started to glow, but then turned back to the normal color. "Hey, I know you're there. Stop ignoring me, you stupid cat!"

"He's not here!" shouted an image of Hunter as he suddenly appeared into a small area of the water. "And stop screaming into my ear!"

"Oh… Sorry, Hunter. Well, where is he?"

"How should I know!?" Hunter shouted back at her.

"Well can you go find him? This is kind of important. And tell him to come directly here if you don't mind."

Hunter groaned and walked off. It was somehow refreshing for both of them to see that he hadn't changed at all since they had last seen him. The water turned back to normal and after a few minutes of waiting, a point in the air started glowing and a small pink cat-like pokemon appeared in front of them.

"Well first off, give me one reason not to hurt you." Aamira said. "I know you told me this could be dangerous, but I don't think you knew how much. If you did, you might not have sent me in the first place! You know he got rid of that seal you put on my memory right from the start? After I finally decided to escape, he ended up kidnapping Quill's sister. He's been using information that I was giving him without even realizing it to hurt her!"

'So that was your theory…' Quill thought.

"At the very least, you should have given me a better idea of what I was going to be up against!" Aamira continued. "We've fought lots of strong enemies before, sure, but Zoroark is different. He can attack people on a mental level the way other people can't. And did you know that he can manipulate a person's DNA? Now I wonder where he could have learned something like that. Which brings me to another point; why is it that as I was spying on him, I seemed to learn more about you than I did about him?"

Mew hadn't moved from the spot he first appeared in. His expression remained unreadable the entire time. Quill would have expected him to deny anything Aamira said, but judging my Mew's reaction, it seemed like he had been prepared for this from the start.

"Zoroark himself can't travel between worlds anymore. I've closed the portal to him. I'm guessing he sent one of his underlings here." Mew said.

"It was a Houndoom." Quill said.

"Ah, him." Mew floated to the center of the lake and hovered above it so that only the tip of his tail touched the water. "I didn't want to do this, but I'll close that portal up entirely so that no one from that world can travel to any others. It may take a while."

"I'm not done talking to you, you know!" Aamira shouted at him.

"I'll hear everything you have to say. I can speak while I do this."

"First off, why do I still look like a kid?" Aamira asked.

"What do you mean?" Mew asked. "I returned you to the way you were before turning into a Riolu."

"Exactly. And I've barely aged at all since. Ever hear of something called telomeres? It's pretty basic biology."

"Oh, I guess a human's shortens faster than a pokemon's. I've never spent much time among humans, so I wouldn't know."

Aamira sighed. "I really hate you, you know. You're not making this easy." She waited a second to see if mew would reply, but continued after deciding that he wasn't about to. "So which do you want to hear first; what I learned about him, or what I learned about you?"

The tip of mew's tail twitched, causing ripples to float across the surface of the lake. "What you learned about Zoroark, if you would be so kind."

Aamira started off by telling the story of how Zoroark had taken over her country, including the part where he killed Aamira's mother. Quill had thought she was exaggerating when she said that she memorized it from the number of times Zoroark had told it, but apparently it was true. She mentioned a few other things when Mew asked about things that had happened leading up to that event. Zoroark had apparently given her a few details of the time before then. How he had taken control of a band of Zoroark in the past after defeating their previous leader, several villages he attacked while leading his old band, and how he eventually had made himself the last Zoroark in that world by hunting down every other Zoroark and their pre-evolved form.

"He has some serious issues." Aamira said. "I know he was the one who told you about the Eye of the Moon originally and that he was mainly using you at the time in order to access it without causing the Ninetales to get suspicious. He was probably upset over how you sort of created the legendary pokemon and how he missed out on it. After all, he's not immortal like legendary pokemon. He still needs the water from that lake from before it was saturated with darkness. Either way he's trying to make himself as close to being a legendary pokemon as possible."

"So won't he run out eventually?" Quill asked.

"He hasn't yet." Aamira replied. "I have no idea how much he has left. Even if we were able to get rid of all of it, what then? Do we just wait for old age to finish him off? No, that's a little too much to hope for. I'm sure he probably has another plan for preserving his life anyway."

"Is that what he's trying to do now?" Mew asked.

"I'm not sure." Aamira said. "He needs a key to something and he wants me to find it for him. Other than that, it was sort of like how things were with Mismagius. She wanted me to find something, which ended up being the entrance to Desolo, but never told me exactly what it was. He's so vague about it I probably wouldn't have been able to find that key for him even if I had wanted to."

"How did he get so strong?" Mew asked. "Normally it would be impossible for someone who wasn't an Aura Reader or a skilled Aura Guardian to break a seal in any way. For him to be able to break a seal that I myself made is a little startling. I know it's been a long time since I've seen him, but I can't believe that he's gotten that strong on his own."

"The power of a soul is strong after all." Aamira said. "Well they are made of pure energy, so what would you expect?"

"He's got someone's soul!?" Mew asked.

"Well, let me just put it this way…" Aamira said. "You remember how strong you were able to get with the energy from mine. Imagine that strength, plus the strength of 99 others."

A shiver ran through Mew's body, causing the surface of the water to stir even more than it had before. "He's stolen a hundred of them!?"

"How do we fight someone with that kind of strength!?" Quill asked.

"I don't know…" Aamira admitted. "It our fault that he's getting more powerful too. Normally controlling that many at one time would be impossible. As it turns out, you were right in saying that I shouldn't take anything back to my world that didn't originally come from there. Unfortunately, there was one thing that we were so used to seeing that I guess none of us noticed I was still wearing it at the time."

'Her scarf?' Quill thought at first. But that wasn't right. He still had her bag back in his room at the Investigator's Brigade building. That scarf was definitely in there with the rest of her stuff. Then his eyes wandered down to her wrist and he realized that he had never even thought of it before. "You're Ravage Ring!"

Aamira nodded. "It's how he knew I came back from this world. It also happens to be good for directing and focusing energy. Something in the material I think. He's been using it to tie back his mane. It's a little weird, but I think he's hiding those souls in there."

"With that ring in place, trying to escape it would be like a normal human trying to nock down an iron door." Mew said. "This seems to be getting worse by the minute. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Not that I can think of. I could always just find a pond or something if I think of anything else though." After yet another moment of awkward silence between them, Aamira changed the subject. "I know why you impersonated Mismagius and tricked Ho-oh into sending the humans to another world. You just wanted to protect them from Zoroark. You couldn't have known he would find another world filled with humans."

"That might be. Not that it matters though." Mew said.

"I have one question though. Why don't you want anyone to know that you're a girl?"

"Wait, Mew's a girl!?" Quill asked.

Mew sighed. "I'm not trying to deceive anyone. You just assumed I was male on your own."

"Saying you weren't trying to deceive anyone, coming form you that doesn't sound so convincing. Even so, why didn't you correct anyone's assumptions? Even Lugia didn't know."

"Zoroark will never change, will he?" Mew said. "I accepted that a long time ago. Unlike other legendary pokemon, I was always the only one of my kind. It's like I was the first of the legendary pokemon. The ancestor of legendary pokemon, if you will. It was nice for a while, thinking I had a companion of sorts. He stole my knowledge of DNA, warped it into something monstrous, and when I wasn't needed, he tried to have me killed."

"In my world, the story wasn't that Mewtwo was cloned from you, it was that he was your son."

Mew nodded. "A little of both, I would say. An egg would only ever appear to two pokemon who were truly in love, even back then. So I thought… Well, that just shows what kind of person he is. To hear that he did nearly the same thing to Anima is hard to accept."

"Well it's not as if I'm her clone!" Aamira said.

"You might as well have been. A mix between Anima's DNA and an altered form of his. Of course more than anything, he wanted to find a way to control thought through genetics. It looks like he almost had it perfected with you. What he needed was a servant who would never question his motives, and yet for you to be an Aura Reader, which he also needed, you had to question things to seek out the truth. Funny, in a way. When it comes to you, he never had a chance at winning. You had him beat on that level before you were even born."

"So how long will it take you to seal that portal, or whatever you're doing?" Aamira asked a little irritably.

"It's almost finished." Mew said.

By now, it was starting to get dark. They had been talking for a few hours and Aamira hadn't really noticed how much time had passed. After a few minutes, the lake started to glow faintly before fading back to normal, and Mew turned back to face them.

"It's done." Mew said. "No one from your world can get to this one anymore. Just know that if you go back, it will be a one way trip until Zoroark is defeated. Of course, you don't have to go back if you don't want to. I only wanted you to go there to spy on him. Since that job is done, you don't have to go back."

"You're forcing me to make another choice like this…" Aamira said.

"Do whatever you want. I'm going back to work out a possible plan with Lugia and Hunter." Mew started to glow again and was gone a second later.

Dinner that night was spent in an awkward silence. They tried to get Daisy to eat with them this time, but she actually decided that she would prefer to eat in her room. Even though she had only been in Aamira's world for a short time, it seemed like she wasn't going to get over what had happened to her right away.

Aamira finished before anyone else and went outside. She climbed up into the tree and stared up at the sliver of the moon in the sky. She couldn't help smiling up at it, fully aware that Zoroark must be able to see her and yet was entirely incapable of doing anything about it.

"How do you like that, you stupid fox?" Aamira whispered under her breath to the moon.

"Talking to yourself now?"

Aamira jumped, suddenly tense and ready for a fight. She looked down and gave a sigh of relief when she saw Quill standing by the tree roots. Quill jumped up and climbed up the side of the trunk to join her sitting on the branch.

Aamira turned away from the moon. Zoroark couldn't hear them, but she was afraid that he might be able to read their lip movements. "I wonder what Faris is doing now. He probably freaked out when he noticed we were gone. Sent out a search party, probably. When we get back, he's going to go ballistic when he finds out I actually considered not coming back."

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." Quill said nervously. "We don't really have to go back… I mean, Faris is strong, right? And then there's the rest of the rebels. And Mew will be getting help too. Do we really need to go back? Couldn't we just return to how we were? We're safe now, aren't we?"

Aamira sat up suddenly and seemed as if she was about to say something, but immediately calmed down again. "You're right. We don't have to, do we…? It doesn't matter really if I live in this world as a pokemon or a human either. I… both of us… we could be happy here again."

Quill nodded, but he seemed equally uncertain. "I don't know how this will alter your decision, but you really should know. I managed to talk with Daisy a few minutes ago. I got her to tell me what she told you about being in your world. I see why you thought that you must have been the one who caused Zoroark to make Daisy scared of me, since you must have seen Mudkip in the Reflecting Mirror. I talked with her some more though, and she told me that she had told Zoroark about both Mudkip and myself. I'm convinced you didn't have anything to do with it. I think Zoroark just wanted to scare you."

Would Zoroark do something like that? He was smart and knew exactly how to get into someone's head. Aamira's actions might have been easy to predict. He could have known that she would end up talking with Daisy the way she had. It could have been that Daisy was meant to be a messenger, but that the message was saturated with lied.

Quill sat up and stared directly at Aamira. "Actually, thinking back on it, Houndoom was after a Cyndaquil with a Joy Ribbon. I had only given Daisy my Joy Ribbon the day before she was kidnapped, and you had escaped six months before then. So when you think about it, there's no way Zoroark kidnapped her on purpose."

Aamira smiled and nodded. "Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to hear." Her smile faded. "But don't you still want to get revenge on Zoroark for what he did to daisy?"

Quill shook his head. "Daisy's been getting better. I know that with types of emotional trauma, old fears can come back suddenly at any time, so I know she'll never be exactly how she was before. Even so, when I think that something might happen to me if I go back, it scares me. Not because I'm scared for myself, but because her big brother will disappear. I don't know what that would do for her. I think the best revenge would just be to look up at the moon every night and give a big smile."

Aamira laughed. "You've never met Zoroark, but you have a pretty good idea of what he's like already. I don't know though. I still need some time to think about it."

"We don't always have to be the heroes, you know." Quill said in a much more serious tone than he had used before. "I know it doesn't seem right not to help, but just think about it."

Aamira sighed and jumped to the ground, causing her legs to sting terribly. She used to do this all the time as a Riolu and had done it entirely out of habit. Her weakness was really frustrating at times. She stood up painfully and turned back to Quill. "I'll think about it, I really will. For now, I think I'm going to get some rest."

Quill nodded and jumped down next to her. Whatever decision they made could wait until morning, or until the next day, or maybe even a week. Whatever Aamira chose to do, Quill decided that this time he would be right there with her.


	13. Chapter 13 Fire in the Fangs

Aamira's skull felt as if it was about to split in half. With all of the things they've had on their minds lately, a little headache like this wasn't something that she wanted to worry Quill over. It was a wonder that she finally fell into a fitful sleep.

Quill didn't know what was bothering Aamira. Maybe the nightmares had returned when she came back to this world. He stood up and walked a little closer. He would wake her up if things got really bad like they used to. She had to get some sleep though or she would be exhausted in the morning, so whatever she was dreaming about, she would have to put up with on her own for a while.

If Quill could see exactly what she was dreaming about, he might have changed his mind. It took a long time for any dream to start. Most of the night was just her turning over constantly in her sleep. Eventually when a deep sleep did kick in, it was impossible to wake up.

Aamira opened her eyes and looked up at the leaves of a giant oak tree swaying in the sunlight. The sky was a beautiful deep blue and there wasn't a single cloud in sight. The soft breeze felt relaxing and warm. She didn't want to move at all. She just wanted to lay there for as long as she could.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Aamira sat up quickly and turned to the source of the voice. Sitting on one of the large roots of the tree was a human with her exact likeness.

"What is this place?" Aamira asked.

"Wherever you imagined it." Her lookalike said. "This tree is quite the unusual one. Each of those twisting, knobby branches that connect to the trunk belong to a person you've met. Each leaf on the branch is a good memory you have shared with that person. The roots of this tree are what hold together this little island, a small paradise in the center of chaos."

Aamira walked to the edge of the island. They must have been floating at least a few thousand feet above what appeared to be a black ocean. The ocean didn't look normal though. It seemed to be made entirely of some sort of black smoke. Down beneath the smoke, there seemed to be something writhing and howling in agony. Aamira looked away quickly so she wouldn't have to get a glimpse of it and found that her double had walked up behind her.

"You're Destiny, aren't you?" Aamira asked.

"Wow, you remembered me this time. I'm flattered." She said in a sort of offhanded way.

"What's that fruit up there?" Aamira asked, indicating the large peach-like fruit growing near the top of the tree.

Destiny shrugged. "Don't know. It's yours, isn't it? I've tried to pick it before, but it always manages to stay out of reach somehow. But enough of that, why haven't you come here before now? Haven't you heard me calling you?"

Aamira rubbed the side of her head. "If you calling me was what was causing those headaches, then yea, I heard you. So what do you want?"

"What do you think!?" she shouted. "You've had enough time. It's my turn to be in control for once!"

Aamira laughed. "You really think I would let you just take over what happened last time? No way! What will you do? Strangle Quill in his sleep and go running back to Zoroark?"

"Now see, you do understand me." Destiny leapt at Aamira, grabbing onto her shoulders and attempting to push her closer to the edge of the island. Aamira grabbed her arms and started to push back. She didn't know what was down there, but she knew it was nothing good. Whatever it was must have been from Destiny's time.

The two of them struggled back and fourth for a while. It was pathetic how weak the two of them were compared to how they had been two years before. Still, Destiny had managed to maintain some sort of strange power and was easily stronger. Aamira fought back desperately, but lost more ground as time went on. Eventually she was fighting with her heels half off the ground. With a final push, Destiny sent her off the edge.

Somehow at the very last second, Aamira managed to lodge her fingers into a small groove a few feet below the ground. Because of the way the island was slanting inward there wasn't any way she could possibly climb back up.

"Are you serious?" Destiny said while leaning down to stare at her, entirely unafraid of whatever monstrosity lurked below them. "Still holding on?" She reached down to grab Aamira's arm. Aamira clutched the edge of the island as tightly as she could with just her four fingers and closed her eyes, preparing for the worst.

"Oh what now!?" Aamira heard Destiny mumbling.

She opened her eyes just as Destiny disappeared over the edge of the island. Wherever she had gone, Aamira had the feeling that she wouldn't show up again for a while. Another figure appeared at the edge of the island. It was like a transparent shadow of a silhouette that Aamira knew well.

"Aamira, are you okay?" Quill asked as he leaned over the edge and extended his paw. "Come on, you've got to wake up. Whatever's making you feel like this, I don't like it. It can't be much better for you."

Aamira reached up with her free hand and grabbed hold of the paw of the shadowy version of Quill. She woke up instantly and stared up into Quill's confused face. She looked down at her hand to see that she really had grabbed his paw in her sleep, fairly tightly too from the look if it, and was quick to let go of it.

"Sorry." Aamira mumbled.

"For what? Weren't you having another nightmare?" Quill asked.

"What did you say just a minute ago?" Aamira asked, still feeling slightly dazed. "It can't be much better for me?"

"I felt it. Whatever it was. We haven't been too good at resonating since it's been over two years since we were able to do it, but I guess in that moment we were able to again." Quill said.

Aamira sighed and rolled over, rubbing her temples. She felt strangely lightheaded now that the headache had stopped. Aamira explained to Quill briefly about the floating island that she had gone to in her dream and her meeting with Destiny. He was shocked when he heard about how Destiny had tried to throw her over the edge of the island, but more confused when he heard about the shadow of himself. He didn't understand it any better than she did.

"I'm wondering if maybe it's the start of telepathy." Aamira said. "I guess it was sort of like you were in my mind? But not fully. That's why I could only see a faint shadow."

"Maybe…" Quill said. "I've got an idea, but I'm not sure how you're going to like it. The missions have started to pile up since I've been gone, so a couple of our team members asked if I was going to go on one now that I'm back. At first I wasn't going to, but I was thinking maybe if I go on a mission and you stay here, we could try to practice resonating. Since we would both be in two entirely different situations, it could be good practice."

Aamira yawned. "Yea, why not? I can't stay in this tree all the time, I guess. I should probably get out and talk to some people around town to get reacquainted. Lets get some sleep first though. It's still pretty early and I'm exhausted."

Quill nodded and curled up next to Aamira in case she had another nightmare. If something like that happened again, maybe a closer proximity would help. Aamira wasn't sure how she felt about this. It seemed like lately she had just been relying on Quill and Lucario for everything. She used to not be able to understand the pokemon like Hunter who had such a strong lust for power, but she imagined it must have felt something like this.

In the morning, Aamira decided to go with Quill to the Investigator Brigade building to meet up with the rest of their team. She had known them all for so long, there was no reason to be afraid of her own team members. She couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive though.

Since it was still early in the morning, none of them had headed out yet, so the whole team was there to greet her. It was unbelievable how much had changed since she had last seen them. Little Aron had evolved into Lairon and Machop had evolved into Machoke. The rest of them who hadn't evolved still looked much stronger than when she had last seen them.

"Well it's about time you came back!" Glameow said. "I've had to deal with this muscle head on my own without you."

Machoke crossed his arms and tilted his head as he stared at Aamira. "Somehow… I don't know. What did I ever see in you…?"

"Excuse me?!" Aamira shouted, much to Shuppet's delight.

"Well don't tell me you actually missed having Machop pronounce his love for you ever five minutes. Although come to think of it, that calmed down a little after Glameow joined." Nuzleaf said.

Gengar chuckled. "But you used to tease Aamira like that too, didn't you?"

"Come on, Gengar! You know I was just doing that to make Machoke mad!" Nuzleaf shouted back at him.

Everyone else laughed, but seconds later it seemed to have escalated from a small remark into one of the usual arguments. Aamira sighed as she watched over the chaos as Quill tried to calm it down. 'If I could use Aura Sphere just one more time,' she thought, 'I don't know whether I would use it on Zoroark or my friends.'

After a while, everyone left to go on various missions. Quill lingered for a while longer to talk with Aamira, but left soon after everyone else when he decided that Aamira would be okay without him for the day.

What was there to do now? Aamira walked around town, talking to various people and catching the attention of nearly everyone she walked by, since none of them had ever actually seen a human before. She tried to engage in conversation with a few people, but it was mostly awkward wherever she went. Even for the pokemon that she had known for a long time, like Oddish and Vileplume, talking with them was hard.

'This forest hasn't changed that much, I don't think.' Aamira thought. 'I think the only thing that's different here is me. Why is this so difficult?'

She had a reassuring sense, which she knew must have come from Quill. She hadn't really been trying to connect with him like she probably should have been doing, but it looked like at least one of them had been paying attention to what was going on. Now that Aamira was paying attention, she noticed the familiar feeling that she would usually get whenever escorting a client through a dungeon. So that was the sort of mission that Quill had taken that morning.

Having nothing else to do, Aamira decided to run through her usual morning routine that she liked to go through before going on a mission. She wished she had remembered to pick up her old bag while she was with the rest of her team, but then decided it didn't matter. She wasn't really going on a mission, so there wasn't really a reason to actually pick up any items.

Since she didn't have any money on her, she decided to go to the bank first as she normally would have in this situation. Sableye seemed to go a little pale when Aamira walked up to him, although for a pokemon like him that wasn't really possible.

"What's wrong?" Aamira asked.

"So… So you really were a human after all." Sableye said. "Quill told a lot of people what had happened to you two when he came back. Said something about you going to your world. Didn't believe it. Not a word. So what happens? You vanish off the face of the planet and leave the rest of your team with all of that debt and a criminal record to clear up for you."

Of course. They had been wanted outlaws before they went to the Other world and Mew had stolen a good amount of the money from their bank as part of his plan to frame them for a crime. It looked like Mew never gave any of it back.

"Er… well, can I check Team Sleuth's account?" Aamira asked.

Sableye sighed and held out his hand. "Fine. Let me see your Aura Glass."

Aamira knew from the second Sableye asked for her Aura Glass that it would mean trouble. She dug it out of her bag and handed it to him and Sableye completely lost it.

"You broke it!" he shouted. "The symbol of the Investigators! The proudest thing that one could ever achieve in this town! Children study for years to become an Investigation Team member and you just show up one day and are allowed to join… and you broke it! Why never in all the time that I've been stationed here in Vine City have I—"

"Sableye!" Sableye looked up and Aamira turned around to see a Delibird flying towards them. Aamira recognized it as the one who they had given a Phione Dew to in order to save his mother and who later collected letters from all of their friends when they were forced to go into hiding. "Honestly, human or not, Aamira is a proud member of an Investigation Team and a citizen of Sylva. You really should show a little more respect to your clients!"

"And what do you want?" Sableye asked.

Delibird pulled out an Aura Glass that he had wrapped inside of his tail and threw it to Sableye. "There's Aamira's new Aura Glass. Noctowl just asked me to deliver it to her."

Sableye stared suspiciously at the Aura Glass as if suspecting that it was a fake before looking back to Aamira. "Fine, I'll need the vault number. Procedure and all that."

"Vault number… Right…" She started to say it, but no words came out of her mouth. 'The vault number… What was it again?'

Sableye sighed. "Don't tell me you forgot."

Aamira's face turned red. "No I didn't! It's just been a while, okay?!"

It took Aamira a moment to remember what exactly the number was. She knew most of the numbers that made up their vault number, but couldn't exactly remember the order right away. Sableye looked like he would be out for blood after all of this and Aamira telling him that she just wanted to check their account balance. For a moment she questioned the wisdom of the bank being placed so closely to the school.

There really wasn't as much money as Aamira had hoped to see in their vault. The total only came out to around 50,000 poke. It must have been a rough couple of years. At least Quill hadn't shut down entirely like he had done when Aamira had disappeared after fixing the Looking Glass.

"It's a wonder we can afford to eat with all of the expenses of our team." Delibird said as they started to walk back towards the main square.

"Wait, our team?" Aamira asked.

"I joined Team Sleuth shortly after Quill returned. The messenger business really wasn't meant for me, but Investigating is nice. I usually take on messenger duty anyway, but there isn't a strict code like the one I had to follow before, so it suits me well. Usually I end up delivering our mail too, including missions. Speaking of which, I still have all of those letters stored away if you ever want to read them."

"Thanks, but I think I'll wait a while on that." Aamira said.

"Well that's fine too. Don't worry about Sableye, not everyone around here will act the way he did just now. Most people were really excited to hear that you came back. Well, I have to go. There's a lot to do before lunch and then I'm swamped with deliveries until dinner too."

"Alright, I'll see you around then." Aamira said as Delibird flew into the air and back towards Town Hall.

Aamira was glad to see that what Delibird had said was true. She had a really pleasant conversation with the Keckleon sisters, Daisy and Willow, before checking what kinds of items they had stocked nowadays. She was glad she was able to talk to them at least. They were two of the best conversationalists in town. If she couldn't talk with them normally, there was no hope left of talking with anyone else.

Aamira wondered if Quill's sister thought she had been named after the Keckleon. It would be better than knowing who she was really named after. She pushed the thought of the Banette from her mind and moved onto Kangaskhan's storage.

Kangaskhan was nice to everyone, so there was no need to worry about her. The baby Kangaskhan that Aamira had once known was gone now and had moved to Pacis to take over the storage visit there from an aunt. In the baby Kangaskhan's place was now an egg, probably not more than a couple of weeks old.

Aamira was pleased to see that their storage wasn't a complete mess, as she had expected it to be after seeing what remained of their funds. She walked from the storage to the help notice board, where she spent a long time looking over the various missions. Every now and then she would see a mission for a low leveled dungeon that she thought she could probably take on even though she was a human, but always decided against it. It wouldn't be good if she had to have Quill come and rescue her, or even worse a rival Investigation Team. She shuddered at the thought of being rescued by Team Rapids from Stony Ridge, the first dungeon she had ever gone in, and wondered vaguely how they were doing.

She kept staring at the bulletin board before realizing that she was so distracted by Quill's frustration at fighting an Onix with an insanely high defense that she wasn't taking in a word of any of the missions anymore.

She turned and started to walk back towards Espeon's house for lunch. She felt like she was being something of a bother by giving Espeon an extra mouth to feed when she felt like she was more than capable of getting her own food, but Espeon wouldn't take no for an answer.

Aamira was considering taking a nap after she finished eating to catch up on the sleep she had missed the previous night when she noticed Daisy staring at her from the floor above.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

Daisy climbed down the ladder and walked towards Aamira nervously. "Could you… go to Lake Harmony with me…?"

"Yea, sure." Aamira said, though she was a little confused as to why Daisy would want to go there with her of all people. She was sure that Daisy couldn't have been completely recovered yet and that she must still be afraid of Aamira.

They sat by the edge of the lake for a while before Daisy finally said something. "That fox was a liar, wasn't he?"

Daisy's voice after such a long time of sitting in silence made Aamira jump. "Yea, he was. How did you finally figure it out?"

"I just realized that nothing bad ever happened before that Houndoom showed up. Quill got this distant stare all the time, but I don't think it was caused by anything bad. I let myself be tricked about my favorite person in the world by someone I didn't even know."

"You're pretty smart, aren't you?" Aamira said. "You'd be a great Investigator."

"Do you… really think so?" Daisy asked a little timidly.

"Yea of course." Aamira stood up. "Why don't we see how good your are with fire? I'm sure you've gotten a lot better at controlling it without even realizing. What do you say?"

"Alright." Daisy stood up and tensed up for a moment. It took a couple of minutes for her to be able to do it, but eventually the fire on her back sprung to life. It was so small, kind of pitiful really, compared to how Quill's had been when he was a Cyndaquil. Even so, Daisy seemed so happy about this that Aamira couldn't bring herself to say anything. She wasn't sure how fair it would be to compare them anyway.

Aamira picked up a few sticks lying around the lake. It must not have rained for a while, because they were good and dry, perfect for target practice. "Alright, first I want you to try shooting off a few Embers to see how good your range is."

"I've never been able to do it before…" Daisy said, but she exhaled anyway to try it out. A few sparks appeared from her mouth, but nothing more.

Aamira sensed Quill's amusement at this, since he had still been paying close attention. He had apparently finished his escort mission and had moved on to finding an item in the same dungeon. As a demonstration, he found a weaker pokemon and used Flamethrower on it to knock it out. Even though Aamira never breathed fire herself, she still got a faint sense of what it was like.

"Take a deep breath before you exhale. Fire needs oxygen or it will die. Try to imagine the heat from the fire concentrated somewhere inside you, just under your back."

Daisy took a deep breath and the fire on her back flickered for a moment. She exhaled and a few small embers came out from her mouth. "I did it!"

"That's great!" Aamira said with a reassuring smile. If she could just learn to control her breathing, she could get really good at this. Fire didn't seem to need much physical strength though, and Daisy seemed to be putting a little too much strength behind her own. If she just relaxed a little more and learned to control the fire on her back habitually so she didn't have to tense up so much, she could be just as strong as Quill was when he was younger. That was something that would probably come with practice though and that she would probably have to figure out for herself.

"Alright, I'm going to throw these sticks at you and I want you to try to burn them before they hit the ground, okay?" Aamira asked.

Daisy nodded and got into a battle stance similar to the one that Quill used to use. Aamira threw the first stick and immediately Daisy panicked and ran back from it before it hit the ground. "S-Sorry…"

"It's fine. Just try to hold your ground. I'm not throwing them hard enough to hurt you, or even come close to touching you for that matter."

Aamira threw another one. This time, daisy didn't move from where she was standing, but she started to use ember at full blast, or as strong as she could considering she just used it consciously for the first time, and completely missed it.

"You have to aim. Don't just attack randomly or you'll just end up exhausting yourself before you get a hit in."

Sure enough, Daisy was already breathing heavily. Just that one attack was a little too much for her. She nodded after catching her breath and got back into her battle stance. Aamira threw another stick and this time the aim seemed right, but the timing was way off. By the time her attack reached the point where the stick had been just moments ago, it had already fallen back to the ground.

"Try to guess where it's going to be before you attack. Sort of like in a real battle where you're guessing your opponents next move before they make it."

"Anticipation." Daisy said.

'I guess they must teach about battles at the school too. So she's gotten a little practice at least. It wouldn't seem right if I was the first teacher and it turned out I was doing this completely wrong.' Aamira threw another stick. This time Daisy managed to catch the end of it on fire. Aamira rushed forward to grab the stick and shook the fire out before it caught on anything else. After a couple more tries, Daisy managed to get a direct hit on one of them. Before it hit the ground, Aamira managed to draw her wooden sword and knock it into the lake to put the fire out.

"We should probably stop there." Aamira said. "We're going to end up starting a forest fire with power like yours."

Daisy smiled and laughed at the obvious flattery, but she seemed really pleased with herself for having learned Ember so fast. She also seemed really tired and not in the mood to object to stopping there.

Daisy sat on the ground and watched Aamira practice with her sword. She was confident that she could get back some of her former power by combining the sword fighting techniques she had seen Faris use with a few pokemon fighting styles she knew. Since she had learned a lot of how to fight on her own, she had developed a style that was more her own than anyone else's. After a while, the hunk of wood really did start to feel like an extension of her own arm as she went through the usual motions she would use while fighting.

"You move a lot like a pokemon, don't you?" Daisy asked after a while.

"I guess I do…" Aamira said as she remembered hearing something similar from Purrloin. "Smell like a pokemon, move like a pokemon, speak like a pokemon, I must be part pokemon."

Daisy laughed. Why shouldn't she. Aamira had said it so seriously, and yet it couldn't be true. Of course, Daisy had no idea who Aamira's parents had been. She had no idea that Aamira had once been a pokemon for two glorious years.

Aamira stopped an attack mid-swing. Something had changed, but she wasn't sure what. She looked across the lake to find the source of the strange energy she was feeling. Whatever it was, it felt familiar. The trees in the forest were so large that there were often dark places great for hiding. Brighteyes or not, Aamira couldn't see everything that the forest hid.

"What is it?" Daisy asked.

"Stay behind me." Aamira walked over to Daisy and stood between her and the lake. It was like sensing aura, which she could still do faintly. There was another familiar, eerie feeling though. The feeling of being watched.

A black pokemon darted out from the shadows and ran towards them from around the side of the lake. The pokemon growled as it attacked and Aamira raised her sword, using it to block both sets of claws and its teeth just before it attacked. She stared into the familiar eyes of the Houndoom before mustering up as much strength as she could to push it away.

"Daisy, run!" Aamira shouted. Daisy screamed as she realized just what the pokemon was and curled up into a ball with her flames flaring up wildly from her back. 'Of course she would be terrified of Houndoom. But why did she have to have a relapse now of all times!?'

"Hey, can you shut that kid up? It's enough to give an Exploud a headache." Houndoom growled.

"Who are you?" Aamira asked. This Houndoom looked like a normal one, but she still got a bad feeling from it.

"I'm a monster, kid. So why don't you just take your little buddy there and run on home to mommy before things get really scary."

Aamira knew better than to turn her back to a Houndoom like this. Daisy couldn't run on her own either. There was no way she could just leave Daisy here with a Houndoom the way she was. She would have to stay and fight unless the Houndoom decided just to leave them alone, which she doubted would happen.

Aamira felt Quill's alarm echoing her own. He must have guessed something was wrong. Only a second ago he had been focused on a mission and now he was searching frantically for an exit. There was no way Aamira would be able to hold off Houndoom until Quill got there. She was on her own.

"Hey, didn't you hear me?!" he shouted. "Get out of here before something bad—"

Houndoom turned to look at the area he had run from. He took a step back then turned back to Aamira. He attacked and this time managed to overpower her. Without any attacks, Aamira couldn't do much. She grabbed onto Houndoom's horns, but he managed to toss her off and throw her back towards the lake.

Houndoom walked up to Daisy and Aamira, who had been getting to her feet and preparing to counterattack, stopped immediately out of fear that Houndoom might try to hurt her.

"Houndoom!" Aamira turned to the voice from the trees behind her. Typhlosion had appeared there and was staring at them from across the lake. He started to run towards them from around the lake, but stopped when Houndoom pressed his paw against Daisy's back. He didn't press down hard enough to hurt her, but his claws were still dangerously close to her.

"There you go." Houndoom said. "See, you don't have to be so violent, do you? I'm sure we can work things out peacefully between us. So here's the plan. I'm going to take this kid with me and if you try to follow me, she'll pay for it. Once I'm far away from here, I promise to let her go."

"Hey, you big brute! Get back here, will you!?" They looked back towards the forest to see a Riolu running out from the shadows in pursuit of Typhlosion. "You've got a lot of nerve, don't you? Just dragging me along with you like that and running off without any explanation!"

"Quiet, kid!" Typhlosion shouted at him. Up until now, Aamira had assumed that it was Daisy's father, but now she realized from his voice that it wasn't. When she looked closer she realized that he was a lot bigger than the Typhlosion she was used to seeing. It was then that she realized just who these two were.

"That Riolu came with you, did he?" Houndoom said. "Fine then. Change of plans. I'll be in the deepest part of a nearby dungeon. That Riolu must come to me at sunset or this kid will never see this lake again. Bring however many people you want, I don't care, as long as that Riolu is there. Don't come a second before or after sunset or else."

Daisy screamed as the Houndoom picked her up between his teeth. His entire face seemed to be masked by the fire from Daisy's back, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. With daisy in his teeth, he ran off towards the town.

Aamira stood up painfully and the Typhlosion ran up behind her to help her up. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yea, nothing's broken." Aamira said.

"Well that's a good answer." Riolu said. "I like you. Don't know who you are, but I like you."

"What do you mean… you don't know who I am…?" Aamira asked.

"Why are you talking so familiarly with us?" Riolu asked. "I've never seen you before in my life."

"Nor have I, but it's possible that she's already met us before." The Typhlosion said.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Riolu said. "What is going on? Where are we?!"

"Don't you recognize it?" Typhlosion asked. "This is the Lake of Life. We were just here, after all."

Riolu looked around the area with the same confused expression. "That can't be right. These trees are so big. The ones around the lake weren't nearly as tall as this."

"Well that's what happens when you travel through time, isn't it?!" Typhlosion shouted at him. "I told you not to follow me, but did you listen? No! You never do! It's your own fault that you ended up here!"

"I hate to interrupt, but my little sister was just kidnapped by a Houndoom, in case you forgot!" Aamira shouted at them.

"Sister?" Riolu said. "That Cyndaquil has a human sister?"

"Never mind that! We need to go after her!"

"Now hold on a moment." Riolu walked up to Aamira in a way that reminded her of some arrogant little kid ready to take on all the evils of the world singlehandedly. "First off, there is no 'we'. I just ended up with this guy by accident and you're certainly not someone I'd trust to watch my back after seeing how that Houndoom tossed you around like that. Second, you're a human! What can you do? Even worse, you're a girl."

This last remark caught Aamira off guard. "I'm a… Oh you're really asking for it, aren't you? There's a kid in trouble! Why are you acting so stupid!?"

"Because he always acts like that." Typhlosion said as he picked up Riolu by the scruff of his neck. Riolu started to struggle and shout at him, but he wouldn't let go. "Apologize now or I'm bringing you back. There's plenty of time to get you back home before going after Houndoom."

"You can't be serious!" Riolu said. "You heard what he said. I have to be the one to find him by sunset or he'll hurt that kid. You can't take me back!"

Typhlosion sighed and placed him on the ground. "Fine. Just remember, we can't have any contact with people in this world. That being said, we don't know anything about this time and we'll need a guide. This human will have to come with us." He turned to Aamira. "So what's your name?"

"It's Aamira. I have another sibling named Quill who's on his way back, but it's probably going to take too long for a rescue mission."

"Where do you think Houndoom probably ran to?" Typhlosion asked.

"Probably Stony Ridge. There was a pack of Houndoom there a few weeks ago so their scent might still be lingering in the area. It's the closest dungeon to here too."

"Lead the way then." Typhlosion said.

Aamira nodded and walked off ahead of them while moving through the trees on the edge of the city. Riolu walked behind them, apparently still mad about a human girl leading the way to a place where he was supposed to go.

Quill had mentioned before that the pokemon in that area got a lot stronger when Houndoom showed up. For a dungeon that she had gone to regularly before, she was suddenly feeling apprehensive about returning in her weaker state.


	14. Chapter 14 The Explorer and the Hero

Aamira was starting to wish that she had stayed in her own world just a little longer. If she had just gotten a couple days of training from Faris and Bisharp, maybe going through the once-easy Stony Ridge would have been a little more bearable. While traveling with Typhlosion and Riolu, they had gone through no less than three monster houses.

Aamira could hold her ground, but just barely. In this case fighting against the dungeon pokemon was more like holding them off until either Riolu or Typhlosion could come to her rescue. More than having to fight these tougher pokemon, she hated having Riolu constantly coming to her rescue. Typhlosion was nice about it, he'd knock the pokemon out, as if she was alright if she had been attacked directly, then move onto the next pokemon. Riolu, on the other hand, loved playing the hero. As if to prove his point that girls, humans and especially girl humans couldn't fight, he would always give her the same smug smirk every time he knocked out a pokemon.

It didn't matter though. It was taking them too long to get through this dungeon. Aamira's annoyance gradually started to fade and soon she was ignoring him entirely. It was still difficult though. She could barely block most of the attacks and none of her counterattacks did much damage. Her arms were starting to sting from blocking the attacks and attacking the enemies that were almost all rock types.

"Should we take a break?" Typhlosion asked after he noticed that Aamira was starting to tire out and that she was rubbing her arms more often.

"No, there's no time!" Aamira said. "We have to keep going!"

She walked off ahead of them. From behind her, she heard Typhlosion whispering something to Riolu, but she couldn't make out what it was. Nor did she care. All she cared about was getting to the end of the dungeon before sunset.

A Sudowoodo ran out from behind a corner that they were approaching. Aamira, who was still walking out front, raised her wooden sword just in time to block its Rock Smash. Aamira's arms stung and her legs buckled, but she managed to block the attack. She pushed Sudowoodo back and Riolu ran in front of her and knocked it out with Force Palm. He turned to smirk at her just in time to see her speeding past him, not even glancing down at him for a second.

Riolu glared at Aamira, but didn't go after her. Typhlosion sighed and continued on past Riolu. He hadn't known this Riolu very long, in fact he had only known him for a few days now, after Celebi said that Uxie and the others had a pokemon that they wanted him to train. Typhlosion accepted, unaware that by "train" they had really meant babysit. This kid was strong, but it was clear that he still had a lot to learn.

They were moving at a decent pace, but it was clear they wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. This human was tough though. It was unusual for there to be a human this strong. She was still human though. There would be no way she could keep going at this pace for long.

They entered the next chamber and about a dozen pokemon came towards them. Another monster house to hold them up. Typhlosion and Riolu ran ahead to fight off the other pokemon. A few that slipped passed them got to Aamira. She blocked their attacks with her sword and counterattacked to the best of her ability. Among them were three Sudowoodo and two Lairon.

"Duck!" Typhlosion shouted.

Aamira dove to the ground just as a jet of fire went over her. It knocked out the Lairon instantly, but the Sudowoodo were still standing. Aamira rolled onto her back to avoid the Wood Hammer from one of them, got to her feet, and jabbed at one with the sword. It hit the Sudowoodo in one of the yellow spots on its stomach and it flinched back. Finally, she had found a weak spot.

She continued her attacks on the Sudowoodo. She figured the yellow spots must have been sort of like nerves that kept them from moving when hit. They could easily pretend to be a tree when they chose to stand still, but somehow hitting those spots triggered the same response. After a while, the first one that she attacked went down and soon the second one followed. Finally she was able to fight back.

The third one was starting to weaken. Just a few more hits and it would be out like the others.

"Out of the way!" She heard Riolu shouting. Before she even had the time to respond, there was a loud explosion and Aamira was knocked unconscious.

Aamira opened her eyes and she was suddenly laying under a familiar tree. The large fruit, which she couldn't recognize as any real fruit, especially one that would grow on an oak, hung in the same spot as before. She jumped to her feet and turned to see Destiny sitting under the tree in the same spot she had been before.

"Back already?" She asked. "Pathetic. Really. You know that humans can control aura, don't you? Most don't realize it, but I would have thought that after being a Riolu for so long that you would at least have been able to do it instinctively."

"Oh, like you can control aura." Aamira snapped at her.

Destiny raised her hand and an Aura Sphere formed above her palm. "You were saying? And this isn't even the dragon force I'm using. Of course it would be easier to use the aura that you were born around."

"Oh so it's not really yours, it's just the energy you're borrowing from the world you're in."

Destiny shrugged. "So what? It's still more than you can do, isn't it? Not that it can actually hurt anyone the way it is now. I'm tired of talking though. I'm bored of sitting around here constantly. Thinking back on it, throwing you down there probably wouldn't have been a good idea. I could probably take over just by knocking you out while you're here. Being unconscious while unconscious. It's possible, I guess. If you can sleep in the dream world, even if you don't dream there… yea, worth a shot."

Aamira drew her sword as Destiny stood up. The only problem was that since Destiny was an exact replica of her physical appearance, she had one too. Destiny walked towards her and didn't draw her sword until she was right in front of her. Aamira only had a short amount of time to parry it and counterattack. Destiny blocked it easily and attacked again. She got in two attacks before Aamira managed to block again and push her back.

As far as sword fighting went, Aamira did have the advantage. She had been more familiar with the fighting styles of various pokemon and managed to make up her own from it. Destiny was a lot faster and stronger though and she still had minimal training with Mienshao and Lucario from before their memory had been erased.

Aamira was tired of fighting. It seemed like it was all that she had been doing all day. Even here in her mind, or wherever she was, her arms seemed to be screaming at her to stop. She could hardly breathe. She would give anything just to give her lungs and limbs the break they were begging for.

Destiny jabbed at her and Aamira raised the sword to block, but at the last second, Destiny changed her tactic and brought the sword down on Aamira's hand. Aamira's hand opened from a reflex and her sword fell out of her hand. Destiny immediately went into a frenzy of attacks that ended with a sharp blow to the back of Aamira's neck. The last thing Aamira heard was Destiny's laugh and her faintly saying that she was lucky the swords were only hunks of wood.

Aamira opened her eyes to find herself propped up against the trunk of the tree. She sat up and looked around, but there was no sign of Destiny anywhere. Aamira's sword had been returned to her, not that it would do her any good now. She was entirely alone. It was just her and the monster circling below in the black sea.

She tried for a few minutes to wake herself up before realizing that it was useless. She wondered what Destiny could be doing now that she was in complete control. It was torture knowing that she was most likely rampaging around and that Aamira wasn't only not in control of her own actions, she didn't even know for sure what she was doing.

Quill would be on his way surely. He would be coming to rescue Daisy. That was her only hope for getting out of here. She stared off at the horizon where the black sea met the blue sky. After a while of staring off into space, she started to get bored.

"Needs some clouds." Aamira thought out loud. Almost immediately, some clouds appeared in the sky. Of course. This was her mind. She could do whatever she wanted here.

Aamira looked up into the tree and started to climb up towards the fruit. Just as she got close to it and reached out for it, the tree extended its branch as if purposely trying to keep her from getting to it.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Aamira shouted at the tree. As much as she tried to manipulate it with her thoughts, the tree just wouldn't move the way she wanted it to.

When she thought about it though, it did make sense. The tree, the fruit, the island, and the monster in the sea below her or even the sea itself were all there before she knew about this place. Those were the things she created subconsciously, unlike the clouds. However much she tried, she wouldn't be able to manipulate her subconscious. The fruit would remain out of reach for now.

Aamira slid back down to the roots of the tree. Just as she wished that there was a more comfortable place to sit, a few of the roots near the trunk reshaped themselves into a chair-like shape.

Aamira sat down, now excited about what she would be able to do in this world of her own. And why not? There was nothing else she could do but wait. She stared at the clouds for a while and shaped them into various forms. Quill, Daisy, Lucario, Espeon, Victini, and several others. She changed the shape, direction, and color for a while. Then she thought about her home town, Inari, known for its sunset. She closed her eyes, pictured it as well as she could, and opened them to see her world bathed in golden light.

She heard a low sigh coming from under the island where the monster under the ocean was most likely watching her. Whatever it was, it seemed to be enjoying Aamira's creations as much as she was. She didn't care though. She simply ignored it.

"What can I do to this island?" She thought. "Maybe make the tree into an actual house? No, there's no need for a house here. It will only rain when I want it to. And I can just make the roots into furniture if I want. Or make actual furniture for that matter."

She looked up at the sky, which still looked really plain in spite of the clouds, which were moving diagonally now, and the gold color. She thought of the stars back in her world and they appeared instantly. Up above her was the brightest star. Faris had told her that it was always directly overhead and that the clock tower in Inari lined up with it perfectly.

She thought about adding a moon, but hesitated. Would Zoroark be able to use a moon that she herself created to see into her mind? No, this moon would be different. It would be a lot closer than other moons and it wouldn't need to give off any light. It would just be a rock filled with craters floating in the air. When she remembered that Atra had two moons, she decided to make a second one, a little smaller than the first, floating in front of the bigger one.

Thinking about Atra reminded her of the Solar flowers, so she added a few of those along with some Lunar flowers and the Dragon flowers that Lucario had made. She didn't think it looked good though, so she got rid of them. After giving it a second thought, she put a few Dragon flowers back around the base of the tree.

She made the grass a little longer and made a few small wildflowers, mostly white or yellow to reflect the sunset. She laid back in the grass and stayed that way for what felt like hours while she watched the sky. This world in her mind was a really incredible one, as small as it seemed when bound to this one island, and she wouldn't mind visiting it every night when she fell asleep. The only problem was that Destiny was there. Usually.

After a while Aamira went over to the edge of the island and laid on her stomach as she looked at the black sea below her. It wasn't really black, she realized. It was more like it was non existent. The monster below was writhing in the nothingness below her. At first she thought that it might have something to do with Darkrai, but when she looked at it now for the first time, she realized this wasn't the case. This monster was nothing like Darkrai. It was something colossal and vicious, while Darkrai acted more scared and even shy at times. The worst thing was that she couldn't see any details of it aside from a couple of white eyes, glowing like bright hot embers.

And yet she felt strangely attached to this monstrous being. Why wouldn't she be? It had nothing to do with Darkrai, so it must have been another part of her subconscious. The scary thing was that it was clearly alive and had its own intelligence. Maybe it was a sort of split personality like Destiny was, though that didn't seem right either.

She thought that the creature needed its own name, but nothing she thought of seemed fitting. If she could tell what it looked like, it might be easier to name it. She assumed it was some sort of large sea serpent since she had initially mistaken what it was swimming in as an ocean. Maybe it was just the Dellevan in her, but the word "dragon" immediately came to mind when trying to describe it.

"If I can make a living creature in this world subconsciously, can I do it on purpose?" Aamira said.

Aamira stood up and backed away from the edge of the cliff. She concentrated on the outward appearance of a Cyndaquil. Having only a limited understanding of what it would be like to be a Cyndaquil, if this did work it wouldn't be perfect.

The air shimmered for a second and a transparent Cyndaquil appeared. She tried speaking to it, but it didn't respond. The only time it moved was when her mind willed it to. So it wasn't intelligent after all, just a puppet like the illusions that Zoroark made. The monster circling below let out a low bellowing laugh that sounded similar to a Wailord blowing water out of its blow hole.

These were illusions. Everything in this world was created by her mind. She let the Cyndaquil illusion fade and made another one of a Riolu. After that, she made one of a Lucario, thinking it would be slightly more complicated. As she made more of the illusions, they seemed to become more solid. She hesitated for a moment, but then made a fourth one in Zoroark's likeness. It was nothing like the real thing. If anything, the only reason was because she couldn't get the eyes right.

Aamira took a deep breath as she let the Zoroark illusion fade. She remembered fleetingly the white dragon she had seen years ago. That white dragon who had helped her escape from a place much like this. She could still remember her eyes vividly. She closed her eyes, trying to remember every detail of it as exactly as she could and when she opened them again, her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw the dragon, completely solid unlike her other illusions, with the same kind eyes and warm smile. The cloudlike feathers streaming from her head and tail caught the light of the sunset just as the real clouds had done. And yet, something still seemed… off. Having only seen the dragon once and having been just barely able to remember the details, she couldn't figure out what it was.

Before Aamira could figure out what was missing from the dragon, she heard a sharp intake of breath and turned to look for the source. Riolu was standing behind her, but Aamira was more interested in the dragon. She turned back to it and was disappointed to find that it had vanished.

"That was… so cool." Riolu said. "How did you do that?"

"Well this is my mind. I can do whatever I want here." Aamira said.

"Since when is a human's mind so vast?" Riolu jumped onto a higher branch and looked out at the horizon, as if expecting to see some kind of border. "Normally the sky would look like a dome of some sort, or in a world as small as this island, it would look like a small sphere around you. This is so weird…"

"You mean it's not supposed to look like this?" Aamira asked. "Well whatever, what do you want?"

Riolu jumped from the tree and landed in front of her. "I came to see why you were acting so crazy. Geez, that old guy gave me a good tongue lashing for using that attack before perfecting it, especially since it knocked you out at the same time as that Sudowoodo. So you finally wake up and he has to knock you out again just to keep you from hurting anyone or yourself."

"What did I do!?" Aamira asked.

"You don't know what you did? Well whatever. You should probably just see for yourself then." Riolu turned to leave, but turned back when he noticed Aamira wasn't trying to leave also. "Aren't you coming?"

"I don't know how." Aamira admitted.

Riolu sighed and held out his paw. "You've seriously got to be at least the second lamest person I have ever met. Still I guess it's pretty cool to be rescuing a damsel in distress."

Aamira grudgingly took his paw and started to follow him across to the opposite side of the island. "Why don't we just concentrate on finding the real damsel in distress?"

Aamira opened her eyes and looked up at Riolu, who was still holding her hand. She sat up a little too fast and fell back the second the pain shot through her arm. She hesitated for a moment then looked down to see a huge black bruise stretching up the side of her arm.

"You'll have to forgive my young friend here." Typhlosion looked pretty beat up himself and was holding some cloth on the bridge of his nose in an attempt to nurse a deep cut.

"Did… Did I hurt you?" Aamira asked.

"You tried to attack Riolu. I thought you were just mad at first, but you just kept fighting after I tried to stop you. I thought the dungeon had gotten to you, but Riolu thought it was something else." Typhlosion said.

"How'd you figure it out?" Aamira asked Riolu.

"You were stumbling through the dungeon before. Then to suddenly attack like that and not even flinch at your injuries, it seemed a little strange."

"That attack is dangerous!" Typhlosion staggered to his feet. "Don't use it again, at least not until you perfect it."

"You think that attack was what made me attack you?" Aamira asked. "Well, we've got to get going. I'll explain on the way."

Either they were getting close to the end of the dungeon and all of the pokemon had been scared away by Houndoom, or the loud explosion from Riolu's attack had scared them all away. The sudden lack of enemies was welcome with their injuries and gave Aamira enough time between the battles that would come up every now and then to explain her situation. Humans from another world, a pokemon taking over a human kingdom, split personalities, it was a lot to take in and yet they accepted it fairly well for having only known Aamira for a few hours.

Riolu started to take the lead and take care of the enemies before they could attack Aamira or Typhlosion. Aamira started to notice that Riolu seemed to be avoiding looking at her whenever they got near each other.

"Don't worry about it." Typhlosion said. "He might be impressed, maybe jealous, maybe both, I'm not sure. That kid wants to be a hero some day, but I'm not convinced he knows what that means just yet. I'd blame Mesprite personally. She probably told him too many romantic stories. Sorry, Mesprite's—"

"—the legendary pokemon of emotion, I know. Makes sense, I guess." Aamira glanced at Typhlosion who was scratching at the cut on his nose. "You really shouldn't do that. You'll just get it infected."

"I know, the medicine I used on it is one that Celebi showed me how to make. Works really well but itches like crazy."

"Are you going to be okay to fight Houndoom?" Aamira asked.

Typhlosion laughed. "Of course I will! I'm the legendary explorer!"

Aamira smiled, thinking about how similar the two of them were even though they didn't realize it yet.

"Just one question though." Typhlosion asked. "Does Riolu ever become a hero?"

"Wouldn't you prefer to find out on your own?" Aamira asked. "He does. I won't say any more than that though."

Typhlosion nodded. "Fair enough."

Houndoom was waiting for them at the end of the dungeon. The scene in front of them looked eerily familiar. Daisy was hiding in nearly the same place that Oddish had been a long time ago and Houndoom was standing right where Charmeleon had been.

"Finally here. Took long enough." Houndoom stretched and scraped his claws on the ground. "This kid's quite the fighter. Took a while for her to stop trying to escape. Only helped me out in the end really. You're lucky you got here when you did. I was starting to get bored."

"Let the kid go, Houndoom!" Typhlosion shouted.

"I won't let her go. You'll have to take her from me." Houndoom used Roar and sent them flying towards the edge of the cliff.

Riolu was the first on his feet since he had the least injuries. He ran up to Houndoom and attacked with Quick Attack. Before Houndoom could retaliate, Riolu managed to get in a Force Palm. Houndoom attacked with Ember and Riolu just barely managed to dodge out of the way in time.

"Something's not right!" Typhlosion shouted to Riolu. "That fire's stronger than what he should be able to do! Don't let your guard down!"

Houndoom laughed and walked closer. "Told you she fought, didn't I? Works for me. She's like a little battery, isn't she? Flash Fire is quite useful, wouldn't you say?"

Houndoom attacked Riolu with Bite and Riolu continued to attack with Force Palm. While the two of them were too involved in their struggle to pay attention to Aamira or Typhlosion, they started to sneak over to where Daisy was. Houndoom turned and attacked them with Ember. Typhlosion was just barely able to get in front of Aamira and shield her from the flames.

"And where do you think you two are going?" Houndoom said.

Typhlosion attacked Houndoom with Swift. While Houndoom had his head bowed towards the attack, Riolu attacked from the side with Force Palm again. Houndoom attacked Riolu to knock him back and, when he was lined up with Aamira and Typhlosion, attempted another attack with Ember. A jet of fire even stronger than the last washed over them. Riolu had just enough time to use Endure to keep from being knocked out. Unfortunately, it was a little too much for Typhlosion. In his last attempt to protect Aamira from the flames, his injuries became too much for him. What normally would have been an attack that wouldn't have been very effective was enough to knock him out.

A wide smile stretched across Houndoom's face and he laughed in triumph after what must have been his first success at using Flamethrower. "You can't endure it forever, kid. Just give up."

"There's no way I'm going to give up to some bad guy like you!" Riolu shouted at him.

Houndoom growled and directed a full powered Flamethrower directly at Riolu. Riolu rolled up into a ball and started to glow as Endure came into effect again. Houndoom kept the stream of fire going and it was clear that Riolu wouldn't be able to endure it for much longer.

Houndoom, having just learned Flamethrower, wasn't good enough to control it entirely just yet. His lungs were running out of air and it was only a matter of time before he would be forced to stop. The only question was which one of them would give into their fatigue first.

A streak of blue came out from the exit of the dungeon and rammed Houndoom in the side, sending him flying into the cliff wall behind him. Houndoom stood up and shook his head to get rid of the shock and looked for his attacker. By then, the pokemon that had attacked him had already burrowed under the ground.

Quill burst out from under the ground and hit Houndoom right in the stomach. Houndoom flew into the air and landed on his back as he fell back to the ground. He managed to roll onto his legs to avoid Quill's next attack and went running towards the edge of the cliff in an attempt to escape. Quill ran after him and stopped at the edge of the cliff just as Houndoom jumped down the steep slope. The fire from his neck and back billowed around him for a moment just as he made the sudden stop.

Daisy, who had been hiding her face most of the battle, had only started to watch just as Quill appeared. The way he looked now, posed at the edge of the cliff and surrounded in his fire as he looked for her captor, there was no way she could ever think anything bad about him.

Daisy burst into tears and ran towards her brother. Quill wrapped his arms tightly around his younger sister, relieved to see that she only had a few minor injuries. After making sure that Daisy was okay, he walked over to the others and helped Riolu, who was just barely standing, to drag Typhlosion to his feet.

Aamira carried Typhlosion most of the way back down since she was the tallest out of them and the only one aside from Quill who wasn't injured so badly that she could barely walk. Riolu was moody the entire time, which was understandable considering his ambitions.

Riolu insisted on going to the lake since Typhlosion had told him that they shouldn't make too much contact with the people from this time.

"I can only do some minor first aid on him though." Quill said.

"It's fine." Riolu said. "Celebi can heal wounds in an instant. The lake is kind of different from how it was in our time though, so it might have to wait until after we go back. Either way, this old guy is pretty tough."

"But you'll have to wait for him to wake up, won't you?" Aamira asked.

"Yea, could take some time." Riolu said. "It's no big deal though."

As soon as they got to the lake, Quill started to treat Typhlosion's injuries. He was worse than Aamira had realized and she was ashamed that she had been the one that had caused the majority of them. Of course she wasn't conscious of doing it and it wasn't technically her fault, but it was hard to convince herself of that much.

On the bright side, Daisy seemed to be better than before. Seeing her brother come to her rescue really did her a lot of good. She even asked to help Quill with treating Typhlosion's injuries. She was pretty good at it too. After a while, Typhlosion finally woke up. It took him a while to understand where he was and what had happened.

"Ah, so we won, did we?" Typhlosion asked.

"Yea, you should have seen the way Riolu fought!" Quill said with a cheerful smile. "By the time I got there, Houndoom was already—"

Quill was cut off by Riolu's sudden laughter. "Geez, that's lame! You really think that corny acting's gonna fool anyone? Give it a rest, Spikes."

"It's Quill…"

"Whatever." Roy waved his paw dismissively. "Point is, I'm a failure as a hero. I'll get that move perfected for sure and when I do, you can bet I'll be the one to rescue the damsel next time!"

Typhlosion smiled. 'So he's becoming a hero after all.' He looked down, suddenly aware that Daisy had been staring at him since he had regained consciousness. "Ah, yes. You're alright, aren't you? Is there something I can do for you?"

Daisy continued to stare up at him in silence for a moment before pointing up at him. "You're really big!"

"Daisy, it's rude to point." Quill said.

"But he's so big!" Daisy said. "Dad's not nearly this big! It's like he's mega sizes! Or even… I don't know, what's bigger then mega?"

"Giga?" Riolu offered.

"Yea, that works! Giga!" Daisy said. "I'm going to call you Giga from now on!"

"Now… Now hold on a second!" Typhlosion shouted.

Riolu laughed. "You are pretty big for a Typhlosion, aren't you? 'Giga' sounds fitting to me. I didn't think Aamira would be able to carry you all that way."

"I'm stronger than I look." Aamira said in a hurt tone.

"Yea, yea, I know that." Riolu said. "You know, you're pretty cool actually. For a girl anyway."

"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment." Aamira said.

Riolu gave her the wide grin that seemed to be his trademark. "You know what? I'll let you be my friend. I'll even give you an autograph if you want! That way you won't have to compete with anyone else after I become famous!"

Aamira glared at him. "Don't push it!"

"Geez, I was just joking…" Riolu turned back to the newly dubbed Giga. "Should we get going then?"

Giga nodded and stood up. "Right, let's go."

It seemed that Giga could manipulate time on his own to some degree. While he couldn't travel to other times, he could at least go back to the one he came from without Celebi's help. It was a good thing since Celebi hadn't been seen for some time now. Giga started to glow and he grabbed Riolu's arm to keep him from being left behind and a second later, the two of them were gone.

The three of them started the walk back home. Daisy seemed to be really jumpy and would panic every time another pokemon made a sudden movement, so she stayed next to Quill the entire time with her arms wrapped around one of his.

"It was nice seeing them again." Aamira said. "Even if that was technically the first time they've met us. It's been so long, I completely forgot that Typhlosion had been called Giga."

Quill laughed. "Doesn't seem like he liked it in the beginning. I wonder how that "young master" thing started? Maybe we'll find out the next time we see them. I wonder when that will be."

"Could seem like two weeks to them and three years to us. There's no way to know, I guess, until they show up." Aamira stretched her arms and looked down at the bruise again. "This is going to hurt in the morning. At least I'll sleep well tonight."

But then Aamira had to second guess herself. How could she sleep after what happened earlier when Destiny had won? Every time she fell asleep, she would probably end up back in that world in her mind again. She had hurt Giga pretty badly before. What would happen if she attacked Quill or Daisy while they were asleep and unable to defend themselves?


	15. Chapter 15 Final Decision

The night after Daisy's rescue was a relatively restless one. Aamira did eventually fall asleep but was apparently too tired to dream about that world inside of her mind. When she woke up the next morning, she kept her eyes closed for at least a couple of hours. She heard Quill, Daisy, and Espeon waking up and agreeing to let her sleep as they walked downstairs. After a while, Aamira decided that she had stayed asleep long enough and tried to sit up, only to get a less than pleasant morning greeting from the bruise on her side and her aching arms.

She gave up almost immediately and continued lying in that same spot for a few more minutes. She considered calling for help, but it was possible that everyone had already left. Besides, if she wasn't strong enough to fight in most battles without getting this badly hurt, she didn't want to make things seem worse by calling for help just to be able to sit up.

Eventually she managed to turn so she was facing the wall and managed to sit up by pressing back against the wall. Using her legs and the wall for support, standing up was a little easier. Climbing down to the bottom floor was the harder part. Lifting her arms wasn't easy, so she climbed down mainly by using her feet and by steadying herself with the tips of her fingers.

As Aamira had guessed, Daisy and Espeon had gone to school and work. Quill left a note saying he was going to take a few small missions and that he would probably be back by lunch.

Aamira left the house and walked to the lake. The healing powers might not have been as strong as what they were in Giga and Riolu's time, but they were still there. When she got to the lake, she sat on the shore and submerged her arms in the water as much as she could.

While Aamira was soaking her arms in the water, she heard the sound of a couple of large wings flapping somewhere behind her. Shortly after came a gust of wind and a soft thud that made the ground shake slightly. Whatever it was, Aamira wasn't worried. There was no way for Zoroark or anyone working for him to get in this world and as long as one of her friends wasn't in danger, she didn't really care what happened. She just continued to nurse her injured arms.

"Ah, Noctowl told me you were in a pitiful state, but I would have thought that you would have at least turned around to look an old friend in the eye."

There was something coarse about the voice that seemed familiar, but Aamira was certain that she had never heard this voice before. She straightened up and turned to see a Charizard standing behind her. He would have looked strong and impressive if not for the fact that there were a bunch of flowers growing around his feet and swaying in the breeze.

"Who are you?" Aamira asked.

"You don't even remember me?" the Charizard asked. "I know you weren't here when I evolved, but I would have thought you'd recognize the first outlaw you ever fought and the current leader of Ignis."

"Charmeleon!?" Aamira stood up quickly, which wasn't a good idea. She doubled over and clutched at her side. She had meant to splash some water onto the bruise too, but hadn't had the chance to before he showed up.

"Are you hurt?" Charizard hurried over to help her up.

"I'm fine, juts a bruise. It's something that a pokemon would be able to shake off easily."

"But not a human?" Charizard asked.

"Never mind that!" Aamira said hastily to change the subject. "Is something going on? Why are you here?"

Charizard sighed and scratched his throat. "There has to be something wrong for me to come visit? Well there is something… unusual. Lately a lot of dungeons have been collapsing. It's most likely caused by the world's energy fixing itself. There haven't been any new dungeons discovered since then, until recently. Apparently there's some sort of tower that appears in random places each day at noon. A few flying types have tried to approach the top, but when they did the tower disappeared again. It looks like it's impossible to enter from anywhere but the bottom floor."

"Sounds like a dominion of some sort." Aamira said without thinking.

"Dominion? You know what this tower is?" Charizard asked. "That works out much better. I was hoping to send an Investigation Team from Ignis to investigate it, but would it be possible for you and Quill to accompany me instead?"

"Hang on a second. No, forget I said anything. Dominions are dangerous and usually home to an extremely powerful pokemon. Besides, Quill won't be back until around noon and I can't even fight the way I am now!"

"Is that so?" Charizard said. "I hate to say it, but I'm supposed to be on my way back home already. I can't wait around for Quill. It would still be useful to get someone experienced in this to accompany me. I really want to investigate it myself, but if I have to send in a team to do it, I guess I don't have any other choice."

"I guess you don't. Sorry, maybe if I wasn't still a human I would be able to help, but I'm not even close to being strong enough to go somewhere like a dominion the way I am now."

Charizard nodded. "Just one question though. Human or not, do you still love investigating the way you used to?"

Aamira was about to answer that of course she did, but stopped when she realized that it might not be true. Any time she had recently gone through a dungeon or something like a dungeon was either while running away or trying to rescue someone from a serious danger. While she was trying to think of a good response to this question, Charizard spoke again.

"No, it's okay. You hesitated, so that's just as good as an answer." He raised his wings in preparation to take off. "I'll be going now. It was nice to see you again, Aamira."

Charizard left Aamira with his question still hanging in the air, even though he insisted that her hesitation was answer enough. Aamira wanted to answer it, but thought that she might not be able to. While laying in front of the lake with her arms submerged in the cool water, she was so busy thinking about if she still liked investigating the way she did before returning to her world that she didn't notice Lucario walk up behind her.

"A dominion appearing in this world. What would that mean?" Lucario asked.

Aamira jumped, but calmed down as she realized who it was. She would never get used to not being on her guard constantly. "I don't know. It's probably nothing though."

As Aamira started to sit up, Lucario noticed the bruise that was partially visible on her arm. "What happened to you?"

"Long story. How were things in Atra?"

Lucario sighed. "Leave for a few weeks and the whole place falls into chaos. I gave them some advanced notice this time and just told them I didn't know when I would be back. Come to think of it, how do we get back to your world?"

"Oh, you weren't here when Mew came here. I told him how Houndoom managed to get in this world to kidnap Daisy and he sealed the portal to this world to anyone from mine. Now no one in my world can get here, so everyone's safe here, including me. I was thinking that maybe I didn't really have to go back."

"So you're… no, never mind. About that question that Charizard asked you…"

"You know eavesdropping is really rude." Aamira snapped at him. Aamira took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She had been really on edge all morning. "What do you think I should do?"

"I'd prefer if you yelled at me this time when I say it." Lucario said. "Just do whatever you want."

Aamira stretched her arms, which felt a lot better than they had when she first woke up. She laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky. This was one of the few places in the city that it could be seen clearly. "Well that's a lot of help. The problem is I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want to do and I don't know what I should do."

Lucario walked up next to her and sat down in the grass beside her. "So you shouldn't be asking me then. What's changed to make you so conflicted?"

"I don't know. I guess that before I just kind of went with the flow. If something happened, I just went along with it because there wasn't anything better to do or I didn't know what else to do. Now there are so many things I can do. I guess I always had a lot of choices, but I just never noticed them until recently. Probably that night we first met Mew. That's probably what did it. I mean really, I never had to join Team Sleuth, I never had to stay in Team Sleuth, I could have actually become an outlaw with Charmeleon like I pretended to do on my first mission. Now I could decide whether or not to go home and if I do go back I could join the rebels, stay on my own, or even join Zoroark. Of course I never would, but it's still an option.

"You also had the option to go to that dungeon. Why didn't you go? You never let an injury or potential danger be excuses excuse before."

Injury and danger seemed like perfectly reasonable excuses, but Lucario was right. They were just excuses and nothing else. It used to be that if Aamira was still really badly hurt by the next day, someone would have to hold her back to keep her from going on a mission. They normally didn't succeed either. "But it's different. Now I'm just a human." And then she realized that this was also just an excuse.

"Well I'm still curious about that dungeon." Lucario stretched and stood up. "I think I'll go check it out."

Aamira stood up quickly before Lucario had the chance to leave. "I'm going with you."

"That sounds more like the Aamira I knew; just acting on impulse instead of thinking so hard about it. Why don't I send a Delibird and see if it can catch up with Charizard?"

So Lucario had manipulated Aamira again. This time she didn't mind as much though. If she had just gone on impulse before, she might have been able to answer Charizard's question. After all, the truest of answers that she could have given would have been one that she didn't have to think about.

The message got to Charizard and within an hour he had returned. Apparently he had to make a stop in Pacis first, which had held him up, but Aamira wondered if maybe he had intentionally flown slower out of hope that she might change her mind.

Since they had no idea where the tower would appear, Charizard offered to fly them around in search of it. Aamira wanted to wait a few minutes for Quill, but since he would be getting back around the same time the tower would open, that wasn't really much of an option.

Charizard wasn't nearly as large as his father, but he was still big enough to carry the two of them with some slight difficulty. They skipped over most of Pacis, since it was a huge flat plane and they would have been able to notice it. In the mountains, they finally found the tower that was just starting to appear. Charizard landed a good distance away so it wouldn't try to disappear on them.

"Anything we should know about the dungeon?" Charizard asked Aamira.

"If it's like the ones in my world, the pokemon are going to be a lot stronger than usual. Items probably won't be much different. There will most likely be a mid-boss in the center of the dungeon though."

"A mid-boss?" Charizard asked.

"Sort of like the dungeon boss at the end of the dungeon except it's in the middle. I'd guess it wouldn't be nearly as strong as the actual boss though." Lucario said.

"Ah, so it covers that weak point in the dungeon. It's going to be hard to get any rest in here then."

"That's the point." Aamira said.

They watched as the tower slowly became solid. It looked like a giant Pagoda, but Aamira was certain that she had never seen architecture like this in this world before. Judging by the looks on Lucario and Charizard's faces, they hadn't seen anything like it either.

As they stepped up to the base of the tower, which didn't seem to have any entrance at first, a couple of the support beams slid down into the ground and the wall seemed to be coming apart in pieces. It looked almost like it was unraveling or like it was some sort of giant puzzle box. Parts of the wall slid into the eaves or the ground or the opposite walls or even joined together to make a frame around what was becoming the door. When it had finally stopped, all that was a door made from two thin boards of wood in the center of an ornate frame atop set of wooden stairs. As they walked closer to the doors of the tower, the doors slid open on their own, revealing a room too dark to see into from the outside.

Once they got inside, their eyes adjusted instantly as the doors behind them slid shut and the process that the had gone through before happened again in reverse so that soon the doors were completely indistinguishable from the rest of the walls.

"If this whole dungeon's going to be like this, I'm not sure how confident I feel." Charizard said.

"It's probably just meant to intimidate people who don't understand how it works." Aamira started walking ahead of them. "I counted fifty floors from the outside, and judging form the doors there are probably tons of traps in here. Since the doors closed behind us like that, there's probably some kind of condition for leaving the dungeon just like there was for getting in."

While going through the first few floors of the dungeons, Aamira found that there was actually someone really useful for her to do. Most of the pokemon on the first few floors were Ditto, who usually tried to transform into her since she was leading the group most of the time. That made it extremely easy for Lucario and Charizard to knock them out.

As they continued, it got progressively more difficult as many dungeons tended to do. A lot of the pokemon in the dungeon were really strange ones. Claydol, Bronzong, Chimecho, Shedinja, Tangrowth, and Abomasnow were common throughout the tower. There were also a few ancient pokemon like Armaldo, Aerodactyl, and Kabutops and a few others. Overall, it was a difficult dungeon.

"Since we're the first ones to explore this dungeon, shouldn't we give it a name?" Lucario asked.

Aamira shook her head. "It already has a name. Provided the dungeon's boss isn't too violent, we can ask what it is later. Don't think about that just now though. We're about twenty floors up. Get ready for a tough fight."

When they got to the twenty-fifth floor, they found themselves sealed inside of a dark room. Two at a time, the flames on the six torches lining the walls came to life. The two closest to them looked like regular red flames. The next two torches were lit by a wild looking yellow flame. The last two at the back of the room were lit with an eerie blue flame that hardly even seemed substantial. It almost seemed like they were made from pure light.

Then they saw the dungeon's mid-boss, or mid-bosses as it was in this case. Standing at the back of the long hall-like room, bathed in the glow of the blue torches which were nearest to them, were Suicune, Entei, and Raikou.

Suicune rushed forward and attacked Charizard. Raikou was right behind him and immediately went after Lucario. Entei was the last to attack. He ran towards Aamira, but stopped just before attacking.

"Aamira!" he roared.

The other two stopped their attacks and backed off for a moment to look over the situation. Their job was to protect this tower, but they could also decide who to let pass if they chose to. Finally Suicune stepped forward.

"So you've returned. And as a human no less."

"Yea." Aamira said. "Actually, come to think of it, you kind of jumped to conclusions once before because you could tell I was a human. Maybe you were just reflecting the opinion of your master though. Speaking of which, I guess this means that Ho-oh is the pokemon at the top of this tower?"

"That doesn't concern you!" Suicune growled. "We've known about your decision to return to the human world for some time now. Why is it that you've returned?"

"All of her memories are from the time she woke up in this world." Lucario explained. "This world is just as much hers as it is yours."

Entei glanced over in Suicune's direction. "I've aided in her training before. Even though I mostly taught Quill, I've come to know her well enough to see that a mere change in appearance would mean nothing to her."

"I would have thought that being an Aura Reader would calm your attitude towards her." Raikou said. "When her Aura turned dark perhaps, but before that? I've encountered many things on my journeys. Enough to realize that darkness can't always be portrayed as evil."

"Yes, you have seen much, brother." Suicune said. "And yet so have we. Before humans were expelled from this world, they did terrible things in an attempt to escape. Some of the things I have seen I will never forget."

"Perhaps, but is it possible that those memories rather than fading have gotten worse over time?" Entei asked. "You know how Ho-oh has been acting lately. Maybe seeing a distant relative of the one she had been convinced was a traitor will do her some good? Out of anyone would could ever stumble upon this tower, who better?"

Suicune looked between his two brothers, sighed, and walked towards the three of them. "Ho-oh has been… strange since she was rescued from Mew's control. I really doubt that you could do anything, but will you try to talk to her?"

Aamira nodded. "Of course."

The three mid-bosses turned towards the back of the room and roared. Between the two blue flames at the back of the room, the wall collapsed revealing a staircase hidden behind it. Suicune still seemed a little suspicious of them, but he wasn't about to attack when his siblings both trusted the three of them.

It was a good thing they didn't have to fight Suicune, Entei, and Raikou since things got even tougher farther ahead. More flying and dragon types started to appear farther up the tower. The Dragonair and Dragonite were just as vicious as Aamira remembered, but Lucario's Dragon Pulse really came in handy when dealing with them. The biggest problem was the flying types, which Charizard would have to try to knock out before they could attack Aamira or Lucario since Lucario didn't have any attacks at all that were good against them and they would normally fly just out of reach.

"Are you getting tired?" Charizard asked Aamira.

"I'm fine." Aamira said. It was obvious that she was lying though. Her arms didn't hurt as much as before, but the bruise on her side, which she never had the chance to soak in the water, was really starting to hurt.

Charizard sighed and picked Aamira up anyway, being careful not to hurt her side, and placed her on his back. "At least you're starting to act more like yourself again. Did you maybe forget about being human?"

"I don't think I could ever forget about that. I guess it is getting a little easier though."

Charizard ducked as Lucario fired a Dragon Pulse above them, knocking out a Dragonair that had been circling slowly towards them.

"You really think things are getting a little easier?" Lucario asked.

"That's not what I meant." Aamira said. "Well… I guess you're right. We can talk after we get through this. I'll just keep an eye on things behind us then."

With Aamira keeping a look out from Charizard's back, things really did get a lot easier. Most of the attacks were sneak attacks from behind, but now there weren't any blank spots in their line of sight. They were still attacked several times from behind, but Charizard always managed to knock them out before they got close enough to attack. So with Lucario leading the way and knocking out any enemies in the front and with Aamira keeping an eye out behind them for Charizard, their progress did become steadily faster.

Things got really bad near the top when more powerful pokemon started to show up. Salamence were common and the Dragonite had become an infestation while there were no longer any Dragonair to be found. The Tyranitar were vicious and kept Charizard airborne throughout most of the upper floors. The Metagross gave Lucario some trouble with their Hammer Arms and they made Aamira a little nervous since she was so used to being at a disadvantage against psychic types.

Finally they found the last staircase. The final floor of the dungeon was one giant room. There were enemies all over this floor which weren't too easy to knock out. Wrapping around the walls of the final room was a large staircase that led up to the floor above. Since many of the pokemon left in the dungeon could fly, even when on the stairs they weren't safe.

When they reached the second to last platform, the pokemon stopped pursuing them. They used this as an opportunity to take a short break to catch their breath before proceeding to the top floor.

Even before getting to the top floor, a strange melody reached their ears. It sounded like a song, at least, but also sounded like a regular bird's whistling. Unlike other birds though, Ho-oh's voice was mixed with cooing and screeching that blended together to make a haunting sort of melody, although it still sounded bright and somewhat cheerful.

The top floor was mostly open to the sky. There was a high roof supported by beams, but no walls to separate the outside from the inside. At the back of the top floor was a tree with a white trunk and twisted roots that looked a lot like the one in the sanctuary. The floor around the tree was entirely made of dirt and covered with grass and other small plants and there was a little water in the ground around the tree's roots.

Ho-oh stood in front of the tree singing, seemingly unaware of the three of them. While Aamira couldn't distinguish any English words, she could still somehow distinguish what must have sounded to most like random noise as an actual language. It was just like how Kyogre and Groudon had spoken once before in their strange growls and how Dialga and Palkia's voices had sounded like some sort of whirring mechanics and yet Lairon was able to understand them perfectly.

It was the same now. The more Aamira listened, the more she realized that she could vaguely make out a few words here and there. Most of it was Ho-oh coaxing the tree to grow and something about her tears which Aamira now suspected was actually what she had mistaken for water between the tree's roots.

Charizard's head swayed in time with Ho-oh's singing. Being a fire type, it was possible that he could understand every word of what Ho-oh was saying. Ruko had told Aamira once before that the reason that she and Quill could resonate was because Aamira had a fire-type core aura. Maybe that was why she could still understand every other word.

"You have a beautiful voice, Ho-oh." Aamira said after a while. Lucario and Charizard both glanced at Aamira a little nervously, but it wasn't like they were going to get anywhere just by listening to her singing.

Ho-oh turned around and looked directly at the three of them. She looked a lot bigger from the front, but that might have been because they couldn't see the length of her neck from the back and she had spread out her tail feathers when she turned around.

"Entei told us that you had been acting strangely and he asked us to come speak with you." Lucario said hesitantly.

Ho-oh didn't even turn in his direction as he spoke. She had her blazing eyes fixed on Aamira the entire time. "Entei and the others aside, why is there a human here in my presence and why is it speaking to me so familiarly?"

Ho-oh sounded a lot older when speaking than when she did when singing. They could see now just how old she was, but somehow it only added to the beauty of her multi colored feathers.

Ho-oh's gaze gave Aamira a bad feeling. She thought that staying on Charizard's back any longer wouldn't be a good idea, so she slid off of his back onto the floor before speaking. "What Lucario said is true. We've met once before, but I doubt you would remember. Back when you were being manipulated by Mew, you attacked me and left me with some scars on my arm."

"From what I've been told, it was a Riolu who I attacked and a Riolu who had helped to stop Mew, not a human."

"You turned Mismagius into a pokemon, so why couldn't I have been a pokemon at one point?" Aamira asked.

Ho-oh shrieked at the sound of Mismagius's name. "And how do you know that vile pokemon?!"

Aamira wasn't sure if she should say, but Ho-oh was already in a bad enough mood. It seemed like whatever she said would push her over the edge and she had a feeling that telling the truth would probably end with a better result. "Mismagius was a distant relative of mine. A great aunt."

Ho-oh's eyes narrowed towards Aamira. "What do you mean she 'was'?"

Aamira sighed and looked away for a moment. It wasn't something that she ever wanted to talk about. "When we were trying to fight Mew, I went to find Shadow Lugia because I thought it was the only way for us to stand a chance. Mismagius had ended up with me after some turn of events. Unsealing Shadow Lugia had become too much for me and I almost vanished in the process, but Mismagius pushed me aside and finished it for me and disappeared in my place."

"I see. Well good riddance to her. And you should know I'm not about to just allow humans back into my world. I have no more patience for your kind; you will join your dear aunt now."

Ho-oh raised her wings and opened her beak. A vicious looking purple flame stared to form above the center of her tongue. Just before she released her attack, a streak of blue jumped passed them and Ho-oh quickly turned her head and fired off her attack into the empty sky.

"Suicune! What do you think you're doing protecting that human?" Ho-oh shouted.

"Do you not remember anything that we've told you since we've been reunited? Mismagius was not a traitor. She built this tower alone with her own hands, not with the aid of any pokemon. It was Mew who had disguised himself as Mismagius to trick us. He was the one who locked us in the basement before you burned down the first tower."

"That's not entirely true actually." Aamira said. "She really was kidnapped by other humans who tried to turn her to their side, but she managed to escape. She tried to stop those other humans but didn't want to get you, Entei, and Raikou involved since you were still just her students at the time, so she locked the three of you in the basement to keep you out of it. It wasn't like she knew that Ho-oh would set the tower on fire."

"This has nothing to do with Mismagius." Ho-oh said. "I was wrong about her? So what? She's one human. One human who was kidnapped to be used by several others. How is it that you can say that humans aren't bad on some level?"

"Maybe that's true, but how can you say that only humans are bad on some level?" Aamira asked. Ho-oh, who seemed to be infuriated by this, was about to speak again but Aamira interrupted her. "Do you know how many legends humans have based on things that have happened in this world? Nearly all of them involve some sort of end of the world where the world will be destroyed by a huge fire. Where do you think that came from!?"

"That is none of my concern!" Ho-oh shrieked. "Fine. I'll just give you this one chance. Go back to your world, or I won't be so nice a second time."

Aamira shook her head. "I really can't believe this. Humans really used to love you so much that they would climb fifty stories up a huge tower like this one to give you gifts and get nothing in return? They all really loved you. There have been some horrible things that have happened to me before, usually caused by pokemon, and you wouldn't expect me to say all pokemon are evil, would you? Why, after one incident, would you target humans that way?"

"Humans and pokemon just don't mix." Ho-oh said. "Whatever happens in your world is none of my concern. Who is wrong and who is right has no meaning whatsoever."

"You didn't send humans to other worlds because you thought that humans and pokemon couldn't mix. Why else would so many pokemon flock to follow the humans into my world? Ho-oh, you just as good as abandoned us when you did that!"

Ho-oh stared at Aamira completely silent for a moment. Her eyes widened slightly and she stepped closer to get a better look at Aamira. Ho-oh's beak was only about half a foot away from her. Charizard and Lucario stayed ready to attack if Ho-oh tried to hurt her, but Aamira didn't think that she would somehow.

"Suicune, go back to the others." Ho-oh ordered.

Suicune hesitated for a moment before backing away and running back down the stairs to the floor below.

"I've never told any of them this, but I once raised a human as my own child after his father abandoned him." Ho-oh said. "He had white hair and red eyes just like you. Perhaps you're a distant relative? It wouldn't surprise me. When he was old enough I took him to a human town and left him there in the care of others of his own kind. I had no idea he would search for me so intently and that after years he would return to me in tears with all sorts of choice words for me. He didn't believe a word of what he said, except when he pleaded with me to tell him my reason for abandoning him.

"I gave him one of my feathers and told him to use it to call for me if he was ever in trouble. He did return to the humans and eventually became their king. When his wife and soon to be born child were in danger of dying, I hurried to their side to help them. It was after that that I became so revered by humans. Even after the entire palace had collapsed, aside from the tallest one at its center that was always well maintained for my use, I had never left and humans continued to visit me out of gratitude for an event that they could no longer remember. Maybe if they fear the fire even now, they did remember something of what I had done for them. Perhaps they still do."

"I hope you're not suggesting that we should be grateful." Aamira said.

Ho-oh shook her head slightly. "No. I have no idea why I even spoke of such things. Your resemblance was just so astonishing, once I realized that your hair was actually white."

Aamira's hair still had a lot of black in it from when she had dyed it with the ink. It was only now that the color from the ink was starting to fade and white could be seen at the base of the roots. It had been an easy thing for Ho-oh to miss before.

Ho-oh's feathers ruffled as she inhaled and laid flat again as she let out a sigh. "Perhaps I did abandon them. It's not very often that I meet someone who has gained Suicune's trust. He might not act like it, but it was obvious to me that he was really worried about what might happen. Worried enough to follow you up here at least."

"What are you going to do now?" Lucario asked Ho-oh.

"I'm not sure yet." Ho-oh said. "I think I'll take a look around this world and see just how much things have changed. I've turned a blind eye to pokemon as well as humans. And you, former Riolu, I hope you'll remember what you said to sway me."

Ho-oh flew off and disappeared behind the mountains. Not wanting to walk back down the fifty floors, Charizard let Aamira and Lucario ride on his back. It was getting late by now and the sun was starting to set. It was dark by the time they got back to Vine City and it looked like Quill still wasn't back due to some sort of complications on a certain mission. Since it was getting late, Charizard decided to stay the night. Not wanting to go to sleep yet, Aamira returned to the lake that had once held one of Ho-oh's feathers in its depths.

Most of the time she sat there, she didn't really think. Whenever she did think, her mind would always go back to Ho-oh and their adventure in the tower. She had soaked her scarf in the water in the lake and was using it to soak the bruise on her side. It was already looking better from that morning, but it needed to hurry up and heal since she had no idea what was going to happen next.

After a while Charizard came to the lake. He had gone looking for Aamira when dinner started at Espeon's house and she wasn't there. Charizard wasn't actually at dinner, but Quill had finally come back and was worried that something might have happened after hearing about the day's events from Lucario.

"I'll go back in a while. I just want to sit here for now." Aamira said.

"You've been sitting there since we came back, haven't you?" Charizard asked. "Why don't we go for a flight? I know you like flying and we didn't really have the chance to enjoy it before."

Aamira nodded and climbed onto Charizard's back again. He took off and quickly left the forest floor behind them. It was a chilly night, but it didn't seem like it from Charizard's warmth. The warm scales beneath her and the ground rushing along below, Aamira thought vaguely for a while that she wouldn't mind having a Charizard for a partner.

Charizard flew as high as he could without his tail dimming from the lack of oxygen in the upper part of the atmosphere. This was just enough oxygen for Aamira to be able to breathe regularly too, so both of them were comfortable here. As she had felt that night when Aamira had flown with Dragonite, Aamira suddenly felt as if she could reach out and touch the stars which suddenly seemed so close.

"I see you at least love flying as much as you did before." Charizard said. "So then, regarding my question earlier…"

"You didn't have to wait for an answer before, should you even have to ask now?" Aamira asked.

Charizard smiled. "Maybe not, but I will anyway. Do you still love investigating as much as you did before?"

"Definitely." Aamira said without even a second of hesitation.

They flew together in silence for a while longer. Aamira had thought a lot about her conversation with Ho-oh. Something about it had changed her just as much as it had changed Ho-oh, but she couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was because she was with someone else now, or maybe it had something to do with being in the air, but she realized then just what it was that she had been trying to figure out.

Aamira accused Ho-oh of abandoning the humans after sending them to some other world and not thinking back on it even once after learning that events hadn't happened the way she thought they had. Wasn't Aamira doing the same thing? How could she even consider for a fraction of a second staying in Quill's world while her friends, her people that she would have one day ruled over, were fighting an impossible enemy?

"I'm going back." Aamira said to Charizard, doubting that he would even understand.

Charizard smiled. "I thought you would. To tell you the truth, Noctowl had noticed how strangely you acted when you first came back. He thought that if the person you fought in your first mission accompanied you on another mission that it might help you."

"So that's why." Aamira thought that there would never be an end to the people she was manipulated by. Then she thought that as long as it was people like Charizard, Lucario and Noctowl who were doing it, she didn't really mind. After all, it wasn't like they were making her life miserable while doing so. Just the opposite really.

When Aamira returned to Espeon's house, she found that everyone was still waiting for her. Dinner had been finished a long time ago, but no one had gone to bed yet. When Aamira told Quill and Lucario her decision, Quill nodded as if he had been expecting this from the very start. Lucario didn't seem to take it as well though.

"I thought for a while that you might decide to stay." Lucario said. "I feel like I put you in a lot of danger before when I made you go back to your world, so I didn't want to tell you what I thought you should do this time."

"I'm choosing to go back this time on my own." Aamira looked away, feeling slightly embarrassed. "You know, I don't hate you for what you did before. I found out a lot of stuff about my past and not all of it was bad. I met some really nice people too. Actually, there's a specific reason I want to go back. I didn't know I still had living relatives until I met Pam and Ul and all of my cousins, but I did know about Faris."

"What about Faris?" Quill asked.

"I've never found out for sure if this was true so I haven't mentioned it before now, but it looks like my mother made Faris my godfather." Seeing that Quill and Lucario didn't really understand, she elaborated. "You know, kind of like an adopted father or a guardian of sorts. Like how Sandshrew and Roy were raised by Kangaskhan. To actually be made a godfather or godmother by someone's parents is a huge deal. If anything happens to the parents, they're the person the child goes to."

"But you still don't know for sure?" Lucario asked. "You still should have said something!"

"It's not like it really changes anything, but I can't just leave him and everyone else in my world with Zoroark. You understand, don't you?"

Lucario nodded. "I understand. Of course I'm still going to go with you."

"So am I." Quill said.

Aamira nodded. "Thanks, both of you."

They waited a couple of days for Aamira's bruise to heal. No one went on any other missions so they were sure to be in good shape when they went back. Espeon didn't believe her when she said it was as good as healed when she saw how yellow it looked. It took a lot of convincing to get her to believe that a bruise always turns yellow when it's healing and that at that point it no longer hurt anymore, even if it didn't look good. Since most pokemon were covered in fur, feathers, or scales, she didn't know anything about this. She had to ask Chansey to find out for sure before finally agreeing to let them go.

Aamira called Mew using the water in the lake again. He was astonished to find that Aamira had actually decided to go back and that the other two actually wanted to go with her.

"You do realize that once you go back you can't get back to this world or Atra, right?" Mew asked.

"Just as long as Zoroark's in power." Aamira said. "So we'll just have to beat him quickly so we can get back here, won't we?"

Mew sighed. "Just what Anima would say. Alright then, I'll open the portal in this world so the three of you can go." Mew flew over the surface of the water, letting the tip of his tail skim the water's surface. As the water splashed up, it started to glow. Soon the entire surface was turned into a mirror image of Mt. Victoria.

Aamira turned to Mew as they stepped onto the surface of the water. "I'm not sure if I could ever forgive you for the things you've done, but at the very least I didn't correct Suicune when he referred to you as a male."

"Thanks." Mew said. "If you did that they might actually start to sympathize with me. It's the last thing that I deserve."

The surface of the water around them started to glow, and a second later the forest had vanished and they were standing on a familiar rocky cliff. There was a forest far below them and off into the distance a strange looking castle surrounded by a large city. They could just barely make out the sound of the clock tower in the distance.

While they had made it back, not everything was as calm as it had first seemed. Victini was nowhere to be found. Standing in front of them was a Haxorus and leaning against his back was a woman hidden under a crimson cloak.

Morrigan stood up straight and walked around Haxorus to face them. "Well, it sure did take you long enough to return, dear princess."


	16. Chapter 16 Secret Ability

The first time they were able to resonate again a few days earlier might have been a fluke, but Quill didn't need to be able to feel Aamira's emotions to be able to tell how much she hated this person standing in front of them. He had never known her to hate anyone this passionately before, aside from maybe Zoroark.

"What do you want?" Aamira snapped at Morrigan.

"Oh now that's not very nice. I just wanted to come and see whether or not you would ever come back. Is it a crime to make sure a monarch doesn't abandon her kingdom just to save her own neck?"

"Do you know this person?" Lucario asked somewhat hesitantly.

Morrigan gave a little curtsy and put a hand on Haxorus's side. "Just your simple everyday shepherd."

Aamira laughed bitterly. "A shepherd? Sure. Admit it, you're nothing but a greedy thief."

"Are you referring to that silly little pendant I happened to pick up while in Maze Castle? I told your friend there to give it back to you. Looks like he lost it."

Lucario tried not to look in Aamira's direction, not that it mattered. He could feel her staring at him in a way that reminded him of having a couple of Weavile claws up against his throat.

Morrigan shrugged. "It doesn't matter. You'll find it when you need it, I'm sure. Until then, you can direct no blame in my direction, unless you chose to blame me for picking a bad carrier."

Quill could barely follow the conversation. At some point while Morrigan was mentioning being a shepherd, he had noticed that Haxorus was looking at him in a way that could only be described as hungry.

"What's the matter?" Morrigan asked. "Don't worry, Haxorus is strictly vegetarian. Right, Haxorus?"

The look on Haxorus's face seemed to say he would prefer to not be a vegetarian, but after a while he looked away from Quill and gave a short nod and a grunt in agreement. This didn't sound very believable to Quill, so more in defense than anything, he lit the fires on his neck and back so he would be ready in case Haxorus decided to attack.

Morrigan laughed. "Oh, you're so cute! The very thought of a wild pokemon like you defeating my dear Haxorus with fire is just adorable."

"Excuse me?" Aamira said. "Quill is one of the strongest pokemon I know. Haxorus wouldn't stand a chance!"

Haxorus gave a short grunt, which they took to be laughter. He didn't seem to speak much unlike his partner. Quill knew that they were trying to get him to attack, but they were starting to get on his nerves. If he could just knock them out, they could get out of here quicker.

Quill aimed a Flamethrower at Haxorus, which Haxorus easily cut through with his blade-like tusks. He dove towards the ground and used Dig, but Haxorus didn't seem at all troubled by this. He stayed perfectly still for a moment before jumping forward and swinging his tail just as Quill came up out of the ground behind him. That one attack from Dragon Tail was enough to set Quill flying back into the face of the cliff and knock him out instantly.

"Quill!" Aamira ran over to him and kneeled on the ground by his side. That one attack seemed to have done a lot of damage. It wasn't like Dragon Tail was even the most powerful dragon move, in fact its strength could be considered to be somewhere in a middle range at best. So how could it be strong enough to knock out Quill?

Aamira turned back to her right to see the source of the ruckus that was still going on even though Quill had been knocked out. Apparently Haxorus wasn't pleased with how quickly that battle ended. He had attacked Lucario with Dragon Tail and Lucario had just barely been able to block it by crossing the spikes on his arm. Haxorus wrapped his tail around Lucario's arms and pulled him forward. Lucario stumbled and had just barely enough time to dodge out of the way of Haxorus's Dragon Claw.

"While we're at it, why don't I show you what my partner can really do? Haxorus." At the sound of his name, Haxorus turned his head towards his partner. "Dragon Pulse."

Haxorus opened his mouth and unleashed his attack. Lucario could tell it was too fast for him to be able to dodge, so he countered with his own Dragon Pulse. His attack couldn't even hold back Haxorus's. His attack hit Lucario and pushed him back to where Aamira and Quill were, almost knocking him out in the process.

Aamira stood up suddenly, unsheathed her wooden sword, and ran towards Morrigan. Before she could take more than two steps, Morrigan was suddenly right in front of her, one hand on Aamira's sword and the other holding her other arm back.

"Such an unruly child." Morrigan snatched the wooden sword out of her hand and easily snapped it in two and threw the pieces back at Aamira's feet. "I don't know why that boy was so interested in you. He doesn't speak much to me seeing as how I'm a human, but I can tell there was something about you that he liked."

Suddenly the connection became clear. The Mightyena who had raised Alan said that he had recently become an apprentice to a shepherd. She had never mentioned the shepherd's name though.

"So what, were you using him to spy on me?" Aamira asked.

"No, but it was convenient. I didn't really want to make an appearance until I needed to, but it seems like I need to a lot sooner than I originally planned." Morrigan pulled her hood down more to make sure her face was covered, which of course it was. "Ah, the sunlight in this country is so harsh. No matter. Believe it or not, we're on the same side, but until you can get your partner to seek you out, I won't lift a finger to help you."

"I have a partner?" Aamira asked.

Morrigan sighed and shook her head and then spoke as if speaking to a four year old. "Yes, child. All human's have pokemon partners! But right now yours doesn't even want to look in your general direction. And how could it, for someone who has no resolve?"

"Resolve?" Aamira was getting more confused by the second.

"When you command your partner to use an attack, that attack's power is magnified for a brief moment, such as it was when I told Haxorus to use Dragon Pulse. The way you are now, and the way your friends are, you don't stand a chance against Zoroark."

"What do you mean 'the way I am now'!?" Aamira shouted.

"Why haven't you turned into a pokemon yet? I wonder." Morrigan tilted her head up slightly, just enough for her mouth and the smirk on it to be visible. "Maybe it's due to your lack of resolve? If that's true, it could be interesting. A pokemon with a pokemon partner. I wonder what kind of result that would have."

"How did you—"

"That's enough questions for now." Morrigan stepped up onto Haxorus's back. "We'll see each other again. Eventually."

Haxorus used Dig and the two of them vanished under the ground. There was no chance of Aamira being able to catch up, and Quill and Lucario were both still injured. Instead, Aamira turned her attention to the Bronzong behind them.

"Hey, you two. Where's Victini at? Shouldn't he be protecting this place from intruders?"

"It's true this mountain is Victini's domain, but he also made a promise to protect the lake deep in the forest." One of the Bronzong said. "He's only required to go down to that lake once a month and it just so happened that this human showed up on the day he wasn't here."

"It's possible that she's been watching Victini's movements for a while to make sure he wouldn't be here on the day she came here." The other Bronzong said. "Strangely enough though, she seemed to have come here solely to meet with you and not to get to this mountain specifically. It was just unlucky that the day you returned happened to be the day that Victini wasn't around."

"And Morrigan just happened to be waiting for us." Lucario said. "That sounds a little suspicious. We should go talk to Victini about this."

Aamira picked up Quill and carried him in her arms since he was still unconscious. Getting back down the mountain was much easier than it had been going up since there was a downward path that cut around the dungeon. They stayed on their guard while walking through the forest, but there were no Alphas or illusions to be seen anywhere.

When they got to the lake, they found Victini sitting on the shore, looking at the tree growing out of the center of the lake. Capricorn was there too, grazing nearby and nibbling on a few wild berries that were growing by the lake. Victini looked up at Aamira as the approached, but didn't speak until they were right next to him.

"I've always loved this forest clearing, even before I was asked to watch over it. So how did things go in that other world?" Victini asked.

"We got Daisy home safely and made sure Zoroark wouldn't be able to hurt anyone in that world again. But when we came back there was someone waiting for us. You know that thief who stole the pendant from Anima?"

"What!? Her!?" Victini shouted and flew into the air, beating his wings frantically. "Well what did she want?"

"Shouldn't you be a little more concerned with someone intruding in your domain when you weren't even there?" Lucario asked.

"Never mind that! You guys are all beat up!" Victini flew over to them, placed one hand on Lucario's arm and the other on Quill's forehead. Victini started to glow and the light slowly shifted onto Lucario and Quill. Their injuries didn't really heal, but it made Lucario shudder and Quill started to wake up.

"Uh, what happened?" Quill asked groggily.

"Don't worry, I just gave you both a little of my energy." Victini said. "Oh but be careful about battling any time soon. It could make your attacks unstable. You don't want to make your injuries any worse."

"So about Morrigan." Aamira said. "She just kind of showed up when we did and Haxorus attacked Quill and Lucario. Then she said that I lacked resolve or something."

"Well to be fair, I kind of attacked Haxorus first…" Quill said.

"Is that so?" Victini said. "Well I guess there's no reason to worry about it then. I don't know what all of that resolve stuff would be about, but it's not like she really tried to hurt you. Considering her Haxorus had his partner there, he could have done a lot more damage. I'd say they were holding back, yes sir."

This did nothing to improve Quill and Lucario's moods, but it seemed a little strange how calm Victini was acting about all of this.

"So what's gotten into you?" Aamira asked.

Victini turned back to the lake. "Ah, just thinking really. Hey, you know about this lake? This whole area, actually. You know, a Celebi used to live here a long time ago. Ah, he was a nice pokemon. Apparently that huge clock tower in the city was made for Celebi. Yes sir, Celebi didn't just protect the forest; he protected the pokemon and humans all around here too. Everyone loved Celebi. Then shortly before Zoroark showed up, Celebi vanished. There's an old legend that says Celebi only appears in peaceful times. He must have known what was going to happen. I really hope he comes back soon. I'll protect the forest in his place until then. But protecting you is my main priority, you know? Hey, I'll come with you to Neltona. Just a few extra security measures and Mt. Victoria should be safe for another month. How about it?"

"Well, if you insist." Aamira said.

"Great!" Victini did a twirl in the air and flew over to Capricorn and landed on his head, much to his surprise. Capricorn snorted and shook his fiery mane, but calmed down after a while and didn't protest anymore. "Well, let's get going. With this fiery guy, we can make it before sundown, yes sir!"

Aamira sighed and walked over to Capricorn, climbing on his back with Quill sitting in front of her. She just couldn't understand Victini. One second he was acting all calm and the next he was as hyperactive as usual. How did he do it?

It seemed like Victini had been taking really good care of Capricorn. He was running so fast now that Victini had to hold onto his horn just to keep from flying off and Lucario was just barely able to keep up. His injuries didn't bother him at all thanks to Victini, but surely it wasn't healthy to be running like this while injured whether he could feel it or not.

As Victini had said, they managed to get back even before sunset which gave them plenty of time in order to avoid the moon. They hadn't been gone for very long, but they had already grown too relaxed when traveling. If they had come across an enemy on the way, they would have been easy to pick off. In order to get accustomed to discretion again, they circled around the city instead of cutting through it and went around behind the manor instead of up to the front door as they had the first time. There probably wasn't much of a point in this, but it was good to get back into the habit for this sort of thing. After all, one little slip up was all it took for Aamira to be recognized in Dargan only weeks before.

They made it all the way back to the stables before anyone noticed them. Out of all of the people they could have run into just then, it just so happened that Faris and Bisharp had been using the large amount of space around the stables as a training area.

"Where have you been!?" Faris ran over to them and shook Aamira by her shoulders. "You had everyone worried. We thought you had been kidnapped!"

"I'm sorry!" Aamira shouted over him. "I'm sorry, there was just something I really needed to do."

Faris sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You should have told someone you were leaving. Why didn't you tell anyone?!"

"Faris." Bisharp interrupted. "Let it go. She's back without even a single scratch and that's what matters. Where's your sword? You didn't lose it did you?"

"About that…" Aamira reached into her bag and pulled out the splintered pieces of wood that were all that remained from their encounter with Morrigan. "We did run into some trouble. That's why it took so long to get back."

"You weren't followed, were you?" Faris asked.

"Of course not!" Aamira shouted. "And here I thought you were just worried about me. Whatever, I guess it doesn't matter. By the way, it's really easy to sneak into this place. I would have expected there to be some kind of security measures."

Bisharp laughed. "Around the manor itself? Don't be ridiculous. That would look much too suspicious. The only places that there are any real security measures are in the basement and the secret entrance in the woods. Of course there's some security since your aunt and uncle aren't too well liked, but not enough that might hint at there being anything else here."

"It'll be getting dark." Faris said. "Let's head inside."

Nostalgia didn't seem to be the right word to describe what they were feeling. Suddenly they were back in the manor, listening to the same kids playing, and staying in the same bedroom that they had before. The only differences from before was that Faris was living in the main part of the house with them now, after Ul had convinced Pam that he was there for their protection. She didn't seem to believe it, but they both pretended for each other's sake.

There was also a lot of stuff going missing, which seemed to be a common occurrence after that Purrloin had started living with them. Ul would always give Purrloin a scary look whenever she would pass by and she would normally just sit in front of him and lick her paws for a while and pretend not to notice. All the kids liked Purrloin at least and were thrilled that the youngest sibling had finally found his partner.

"So who do you think your partner could be?" Lucario asked later that night.

"I don't know." Aamira said as she laid back in her bed and stared up at the slanted ceiling. "Morrigan knows though. She said that my partner has been avoiding me. Maybe that means that she knows him?"

"I still don't get that whole resolve thing." Quill said. "What exactly does it have to do with anything and what did she mean by it?"

"I dunno." Aamira jumped off of her bed and stretched her arms. Even thought the bruises had healed, they still felt stiff at times. "It's getting pretty late. We should be going back downstairs soon."

Sure enough, after a few minutes of waiting, Ul came up through the trap door to let them know that everyone was asleep and they headed down to the basement. It seemed like everyone had become extremely tense when Aamira had vanished and they had all started to prepare for a serious fight. As soon as they were led downstairs, they were all given assignments to do around the base.

Lucario was put in charge of training some other pokemon who were able to sense aura. Their abilities would be useless on people with Leuminite, but since pokemon could wear it without their abilities being cancelled they would still be really important. Learning how to sense aura was more of a second nature thing, so instead of teaching them how to do it, he helped them refine their abilities and taught them to hide well enough so that they could sense where their opponents were but their enemies couldn't see them.

Quill was in charge of training long range. He was a master with Flamethrower and Swift and several items that could be thrown, so he trained them the way he would do it himself. Now that he knew there was a difference in strength with and without human partners giving them commands, he had them train both with and without their partners to get a good idea of their strength. The gap between their power when they used attacks on their own and their power when commanded by humans was enormous, so he focused on making sure they could defend themselves if they ever got separated from their partners.

Aamira, instead of being put in charge of something, was forced to train with Bisharp and Faris. They seemed overly brutal the entire time, even Bisharp who had apparently hid her aggravation at Aamira running away really well up until this point. Wooden swords weren't working out, so they gave Aamira a regular metal one. It was difficult to adjust to the sudden increase in weight and by the end of it she had a few new bruises.

Lucario and Quill met up after they had finished training with their respective groups. The pokemon in both of their groups had improved a great deal, but probably would have done better if their partners hadn't been so reluctant to be taught by pokemon. It seemed like in their eyes humans should be taught by humans and pokemon should be taught by humans also.

They wandered around searching for Aamira for a while when they heard the sound of her laughing from a room farther down the long hallway. In that room there were a bunch of computers lined up next to each other. Darach was standing a few feet behind Aamira and watching as she typed something into the keyboard. On the monitor there was some sort of pokemon made up of a bunch of different shapes floating around in some sort of three-dimensional grid.

"Is that Porygon?" Lucario asked.

"Yea, it's starting to learn a few words now, but I'm not sure that it understands them completely." Aamira said. "Say hello, Porygon."

Porygon tilted its head and stared at the newcomers in the room. "He-llo."

"Can it see us?" Quill asked.

"I set up a camera and a microphone so we can talk directly to Porygon, but it seems to understand typing a lot easier." Darach said. "It makes sense, I guess. Porygon is just made up of a bunch of zeroes and ones and the keys on the keyboard are the same. It could be the smartest pokemon in existence but has no idea how to express it."

"Still I didn't think it would be so cute." Aamira said. "Eevee made an Up-Grade that would be able to improve it later on and hopefully there will be a way to get it out of the computer. Right now though it's just a basic AI program."

"When did you talk with Eevee?" Lucario asked.

"When I was waiting for my bruises to heal, I decided to talk with him about Porygon. He had no idea that pokemon could be made artificially inside of a computer like this, so of course he wanted to help. His computers weren't advanced enough to actually run Porygon's program though, so this is the first time. Even these computers are barely advanced enough to be able to handle it. If I had one of Zoroark's computers—well I guess they should be my computers shouldn't they?—teaching Porygon would be a lot easier than it is now."

Porygon was wandering around on the screen and when he got closer to the edge, he suddenly vanished behind it and appeared on the screen on the next computer.

"Hey, come on! I told you to stay in this one!" Aamira said. Porygon apparently couldn't hear her from another computer, so she went and sat down at that one and told Porygon to go back to the other computer.

Darach laughed and adjusted his glasses. "And that keeps happening. It's turning out to be a menace after all."

Porygon tilted his head again. "Men-ace? Men-ace!"

"Oh great, I think Porygon thinks that's its name now." Aamira pressed on a few more keys and Porygon jumped as if surprised by something. "Now don't be like that. We're going to end up destroying these computers if we run your program for too long, then what will happen to you? Come on, say goodnight to everyone, Porygon."

Porygon blinked a couple of times and tilted his head again. "Good-night." Porygon blinked again a couple of times and closed his eyes and bobbed up and down in the "air" as he seemed to fall asleep. Aamira shut down the program and took the disk back from the computer.

"I'll hold onto Porygon and the Up-Grade for you if you'd like." Darach said. "These computers can't really handle something like this, but I might be able to figure something out."

Aamira handed him Porygon's disk and the Up-Grade. "I thought you were more of a book worm than someone good at computers."

"I dabble a little."

"So what do you want to do?" Quill asked. "We're done with everything that we need to do."

"I don't k now. Even after practicing with Faris and Bisharp, I'm not really that tired." Aamira said.

"Me neither, now that you mention it. And I've been emanating my aura more than usual so it would be easier for the other pokemon to find me during practice." Lucario said.

"Really? Well I haven't used my attacks at all since Victini said not to so I'm not tired either." Quill said.

"It's been a while now so it's probably okay to do it now." Aamira said. "Hey why don't we do just one training session together? Enough for practice and enough to tire ourselves out."

Quill and Lucario agreed and they headed towards one of the abandoned training rooms. Most of the pokemon who had been training in there before were already asleep after exhausting themselves.

"It's too bad we couldn't talk to Porygon more. It seemed like an interesting pokemon." Lucario said.

"Would it be possible for a pokemon like that to ever get a human partner?" Quill asked.

"I don't know, maybe." Aamira said. "You know now that all of the excitement has died down, I can't help thinking about how strong Morrigan's Haxorus was when she called out her pokemon's attack. It seems kind of ridiculous."

Quill laughed. "Can you imagine giving me orders like that if I really was your partner?"

Aamira laughed too. "Yea, sure. It makes a lot of sense. Not really…" She made a dramatic point at a target across the room and Quill got into his battle stance. "Quill, use Flamethrower!"

Quill's fire flared up and he attacked the target with Flamethrower. His eyes widened as he saw the size of his attack, which had been nowhere near this size ever before. Aamira yelped in surprise and jumped back and Lucario had to turn his back to the intense heat radiating from his attack.

Quill quickly closed his mouth to cut off the oxygen so that the fire would die out. He ran over to the ashes that were all that was left of the target and examined the wall behind it, which was now charred black.

"How… How did you do that?" Lucario asked as he looked between Quill and Aamira.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's impossible!" Aamira said. "Quill couldn't actually be my partner; he wasn't born in this world."

"Then how could that have happened?" Quill asked.

"Hang on a second." Aamira said. "Lucario, you try out an attack too. It doesn't matter which one, just try one."

Lucario backed away and formed an Aura Sphere, which he threw at one of the targets. The target was blown apart and the Aura Sphere kept going and left a huge gouge in the wall behind the target. It was always a strong attack, but it shouldn't have been that strong.

They heard a shriek from behind them and turned to the door to see Victini standing there with his hands coving his mouth and a horrified expression on his face. "What are you doing?! I told you not to use your attacks!"

"I thought it might have been because of that." Aamira said. "Victini, why did you lie to us? You said that their attacks would be unstable after you gave them both extra energy, but instead they're just overpowered like this. And Capricorn too, right? That's how we managed to get here so fast. You gave Capricorn some of your energy too."

Victini sighed. "Yea. Anima always wanted to keep it a secret though. I knew I was probably being too careless with it before, but she had also asked me to protect you, you know? I just wanted to make sure those two were okay and that you got here as fast as possible. The truth is, I can make an unlimited amount of energy. If I give that energy to a pokemon or even a human, it makes them more than ten times as strong as they would originally be."

"Is that true?" Darach walked in behind Victini and looked at the half destroyed training room. "You were at the strategy meeting, weren't you? Faris wanted you to be there since you were Anima's partner. With as much trouble as we're in currently, why didn't you say anything about this? Don't you think Anima would want you to use your abilities to overthrow the person who killed her and the previous king?"

"Actually, no, I don't think she would." Victini said as he averted his eyes.

"Why not? Just think about this! The strength of the pokemon here with their partners would become overwhelming. Even pokemon without partners could help us fight. Aamira could easily convince them to, right?"

"You'd want to get them involved too…" Victini turned back to Aamira. "I'm not really liking where this is going. I hope you understand why I kept this a secret now."

"Oh yea, I understand completely." Aamira said. "Convincing other pokemon to fight? What do they have to do with any of this?"

"Zoroark's trying to convince people that wild pokemon are feral beasts that kidnap children. Don't you think they'd want to get back at him?" Darach asked.

"And how would they do that?" Aamira asked. "By proving his point and attacking the most well-liked person in the country? Just leave Victini out of this. If he doesn't want to use his ability, he doesn't have to."

"You'll both doom us all, you know that?" Darach said. "If it comes down to Victini's power being the only thing that could stop him and he refuses to help, you'll end up locked up somewhere again and everyone else probably won't live long enough to see you break out. Do you really want that!?"

"It's my job to protect Aamira!" Victini shouted. "If it came to it, I would definitely help, but what you're suggesting would be what would really end up dooming us all."

"It was your job to protect Anima too, but you couldn't, could you? You didn't try to protect her, what happened is just as much your fault as it is Zoroark's! You just as good as killed your own partner!"

Aamira snatched Victini out of the air and held him close to her, both in an attempt to protect him and comfort him at the same time. "Darach, get out. Now."

Darach glared at her and walked out. Aamira didn't take her eyes off of him until he had turned around the corner. She looked down at Victini and wasn't too surprised to find him in tears.

Instead of going back up to the attic, they found one of the empty rooms in the base that had a lock on the inside and stayed in there. They waited for Victini to calm down, but he was hysterical after what Darach had said to him.

There was a knock on the door, but it sounded sharper and more high pitched than a human knocking with their hand. Lucario got up and walked to the door. "Whose there?"

Tranquill's voice answered. "Can I come in and talk with all of you for a minute?"

Lucario glanced at Aamira, she nodded, and he turned back and opened the door. Tranquill walked in and didn't care that they wanted to lock the door back again once she saw the state that Victini was in.

"I'm really sorry about the way Darach acted earlier." Tranquill said. "He told me about it and I got a pretty good idea of what happened. He really hates Zoroark and he grew up with Anima, so you can understand how he must feel. Even so, the things he said were really out of line. Victini, you know he didn't really mean any of it. He just really wanted you to cooperate and took it a little too far."

"I wanted to save her…" Victini said. "I could have, we both knew what was going to happen, but she started yelling at me when I wouldn't run."

"Does Zoroark know about your abilities?" Aamira asked.

Victini shook his head. "No, but she thought he would figure it out. It's not right, I should have done something."

Tranquill stroked the top of his head with the tip of her beak. "You know, it sounds a lot like what my ancestor did. She regretted leaving her partner, but she was hailed as a hero for it. Life isn't fair and sometimes we have to do things that we wouldn't want to."

"You say it like it was so simple." Victini said. "Unfezant saved thousands of lives by leaving her partner and I saved myself."

"And possibly saved thousands of people by saving yourself." Aamira said. "Just think what would have happened if you had stayed behind to help Anima. You probably would have been captured, she might have died anyway. What do you think Zoroark would have done when he found out what kind of ability you had? He might not even need me. You might have saved my life too.

"That being said though, Tranquill, I have a really serious question for you. You want to do something great like your ancestor did, don't you? Would you abandon Darach so easily if it meant fulfilling that dream?"

"No, I don't think I could." Tranquill said. "I don't think my ancestor could have either. The only reason she did was because her partner pleaded with her to leave him behind."

"Just think about the pain it caused her to do it though." Aamira said. "If you do want to do something great, just make sure it's something that will make you happy too."

Tranquill smiled slightly and ruffled up her feathers. "I get it. I probably came off sounding insincere when I tried to comfort Victini. I'm sorry, Victini. I was just trying to help. But really though, Darach didn't mean anything he said to you. He really does have good intentions, he just doesn't know how to say things a certain way."

Victini nodded, but still wouldn't look up at anyone. He had at least stopped crying and seemed to be starting to calm down.

"It's getting late." Aamira said. "We should all try to get some sleep."

"I'll be going then." Tranquill turned and left and Lucario locked the door back behind her, more for Victini's peace of mind than anything else.

Tranquill always had to scold Darach over little things, but not normally anything like this. She had never been so harsh on him before, but he understood why she was. Darach had done a lot of thinking after that and eventually he came to a conclusion that he felt he could live with. That conclusion was what Tranquill needed too.

He needed to apologize to Victini, but he thought that he would wait until he'd had some time to calm down. The next morning he went to the room that Tranquill had told him they were staying in, but they weren't around.

He looked for them all over the base but didn't see them anywhere. It was still early, but it was possible they had already gone back to the house. It wouldn't look good if a stranger just suddenly walked out of the basement though, so he walked down the long passage to find the hidden entrance in the woods. He didn't think that they would actually be out there in the woods. When he looked around, he noticed that Victini was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Victini?" Darach asked.

"He went home." Quill said. "You just missed him."

"He thought it would be best if he left early before word of his abilities started to spread." Lucario added.

"Actually, before he left he agreed to do a little test with us." Aamira said. "We all went through the forest and asked as many pokemon as we possibly could to join us to fight Zoroark. Every single one refused. Even when we told them that he would eventually try to take over Neltona and that wild pokemon would be targeted, they still refused. Until Zoroark takes the fight directly to them, they aren't willing to do anything. One of them even called this whole potential war a 'silly human squabble'."

Darach nodded. "I understand. I really wanted to apologize, but I guess hearing it from Tranquill was good enough. She was always better with words, I guess."

"So where is Tranquill?" Aamira asked.

Darach looked up. She had told him that she was going out for a morning flight, which she was eager to do after what happened in their conversation the previous night. He spotted her almost instantly. The sky was already turning dark from the storm clouds that were moving in, but the shadow of the huge bird still stood out vividly against the clouds.

"That's her?" Quill asked. "But that pokemon looks too big to be Tranquill."

Because of Tranquill's amazing eyesight, she spotted them on the ground almost instantly and dove towards them. The pokemon flying towards them in such an elegant manor wasn't a Tranquill though, it was an Unfezant. She flew towards them and skimmed along the ground close enough for some of the grass and dried leaves to touch her stomach feathers before flying back up above the trees.

Darach looked up at his partner and smiled in admiration. "It's amazing isn't it? Humans can see their own growth through their pokemon. Unfezant is so beautiful now too. What I said last night was terrible, but now I know exactly what I want to do. I might not know how and I can't even express it with words, but I can still understand it."

"I can't imagine what it must be like to see your partner evolve like that." Aamira said. "Maybe I would understand what that's like, but mine is apparently avoiding me because of my lack of resolve or something."

Darach laughed. "Reading that book I gave you a little too much, aren't you?"

"What book?" Aamira's birthday party had already seemed like it had been so long ago that she had completely forgotten about the book that Darach had given her. "Oh! Right! Sorry, I completely forgot about it. There's just been so much going on. But what does it have to do with my partner?"

"I just thought you got that idea from reading it too much." Darach said. "That book is all about a child trying to find her partner by passing tests to prove her resolve."

Before letting Darach get in another word, Aamira climbed down into the well that led to the secret entrance and ran back towards the manor. Unfezant's flying had been so beautiful. Would her partner be anything like that? Could it even be possible that some book she had liked as a little kid was her key to meeting him? As much as she had tried to pretend not to care for the longest time, she suddenly found herself overwhelmed with curiosity about her partner. She didn't care if her partner was a Braviary or a Trubbish, all she cared about was what kind of pokemon they would be.


	17. Chapter 17 The Ivory Forest

It was so important to Aamira that she would read that book on her own, since it meant finding her partner. The most she managed to read though was the first few pages before she finally had to sit it down, shaking in a cold sweat and feeling nauseous. After a few minutes she felt a little better and tried to read more of it, but each time she did this she made less and less progress until she wasn't able to read more than a couple of lines. It was at this point that she realized that she hadn't taken in more than a couple of words of the story itself.

There was still one other option. Since Zoroark had been making her look into the Reflecting Mirror Aamira hadn't felt comfortable using her abilities, but Aamira didn't see any other option. Aamira held the book in both hands and stared at the cover, not really thinking of anything, hoping to trigger her Aura Reading ability.

'The three knights who would become a model for all to come… honorable, brave, chivalrous, carrying blades of justice… Then fled to three countries as the knights of the dragons. One to the forest, guarded by vast white leaves, one into the caves of the deepest black, and the third past these boundaries to watch over all.'

Aamira shook her head. She felt slightly dizzy. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten that much from her ability. A few times she had managed to take in an entire book with just a stroke of its spine, but that was rare and hadn't happened for years. Maybe her energy had just been building up all of this time and was eager to escape. However she was able to come up with this so easily didn't matter. She had to find out about these knights.

When she climbed back down the ladder from the attic, she found Lucario and Quill there waiting.

"Did you find out about anything?" Lucario asked.

"Maybe, but I think I should ask Darach more about this book." Aamira said.

"He's probably sleeping right now like most of the others do at this time." Quill said. "Do you have any idea how long you've been up there?"

Aamira walked along the hall and looked out of a window. It was already close to night. She hadn't eaten or left the attic for the entire day. She was sure she hadn't been up there for more than half an hour at the most though, at least before she had tried to use her ability. Maybe it hadn't come to her as easily as she had thought.

"Ah, well I guess there's nothing we can do about that now." Aamira said. "Let's go get some dinner."

It was hard for them to lie in front of Pam all the time, both because they just hated lying to her and she was really smart. She seemed to believe them though when they said that Aamira had been feeling sick all day. Aamira was still pale and looked a little sick from when she had become nauseous while reading. Maybe she really had been feeling sick for a while, but it still felt like a lie. If only they could just tell her about everything that was going on, but Ul's reason for not wanting to was a good one.

A few hours later, they were woken up by Ul after falling asleep in their room in the attic. Aamira had some trouble waking up after being awake for nearly a full two days and nights. She wished she could just get a few more hours of sleep, but there were more important things to do. Sleep could wait.

They met with Faris, and Darach and their partners in one of the empty meeting rooms. They had all met up with each other just by chance, but it was more convenient that way.

"I know you might just think it's some story, but is there anything that you know about the three knights in this book?" Aamira asked Darach. "It could be really important."

"No one knows much about them, but there is one particular legend about them." Darach said. "A long time ago when Neltona and Dellevis were locked in a war, two of the knights fought on either side. Their leader had broken away from them and had gone on a journey in an attempt to find a way to end the war. When he returned unsuccessful, the found the land completely ravaged. One particular event that took place shortly after his return led the other two knights to abandon their armies. No one knows exactly what this event was because everyone else was caught up in the war at the time, but the three knights disappeared, the war ended shortly after, and the knights were never seen again."

"So you don't know anything about a forest with white leaves or a dark cave related to them?" Aamira asked.

"That white forest would be the Ivory Forest. How do you know about that?" Faris asked.

'It must not have been mentioned in the book, even if my ability picked up on it.' Aamira thought. "I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with one of the knights."

Faris gave Aamira an accusing look. "Aamira? Could you tell us what this is really about?"

"I don't know why you always act like Faris and everyone are strangers." Quill said. "They're our friends too, right? You're always acting so secretive now. Back when you just suddenly decided to take Daisy back home, the way you spoke it sounded like you were just going to give up on them entirely since Zoroark might know we were hiding here. It sounded like, 'Oh well, we'll find someone else when they get captured.'"

"Did it really sound like that…?" Aamira asked. Quill nodded and she turned to Lucario. "Lucario?"

Lucario hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Yea, that's what it sounded like. Remember, I even said that you were being discourteous to Ul and Pam and you just shrugged it off."

"Oh, I just figured you meant that I should have told them before leaving. I didn't mean for it to sound like that. After all of this time being caught up with everything that's been happening here, I guess it's had an effect on me. So how much should I actually tell them?"

"You should just tell them everything, right?" Quill said. "They're on our side. We shouldn't treat them like enemies."

Aamira sighed, but Quill was right. Maybe she just wanted to keep Quill's world to herself. It was silly, but she didn't really have much else other than what she was carrying on her back and her memories of that world. Telling anyone from this world would make it feel like Zoroark was somehow tainting those memories, but it was time that someone knew where she really was for those years that she had gone missing.

It was a long story, so Aamira shortened it to the point that it didn't entirely make sense, but Darach, Ul, or Faris would interrupt to ask questions at any time there was something they didn't understand. Every time she mentioned a legendary pokemon that they had met, Darach got really excited. For someone who had read about them for practically his entire life, it but have been exciting to hear that they really existed.

"So let me see if I've got all of this right." Ul said. "You used to work for Zoroark as a spy and that somehow led to you going to Lucario's world. Sometime after that you ended up in Quill's world due to some accident which caused you to lose your memory and… turn into a pokemon... After that you managed to meet up with Lucario again eventually and the three of you defeated the tyrant that had taken over his world. Then after Mismagius was defeated another enemy showed up and started to make messes of things everywhere and angered a few legendary pokemon in the process. You eventually found out that this enemy was Mew who was trying to gain the power necessary to beat Zoroark, which led to your decision to come back here."

"Yea, that sounds like the gist of it." Aamira said. "Then after that Zoroark kept me locked up in that castle and I eventually escaped. You know what happened from there."

"How did you manage to escape, anyway?" Darach asked. "From what I understand, you had planned to meet up with Faris after escaping and you were able to escape on your own."

"Well I had to wait until that night to escape since it was the new moon." Aamira said. "That way Darkrai could help me travel through the shadows to get outside of the castle. He can get pretty much anywhere as long as there's a dark place."

"You know a Darkrai too?" Darach asked. "And this one will actually help you and do as you ask?"

"Yea I guess, but he can only manifest in this world during the new moon. Any other time he's either back in the world he came from or hiding in my shadow. Even if he hides in my shadow though, there's not much he can do when he can't manifest."

Faris sighed and rubbed his temples between both hands. "This is a lot to take in. If anyone else had said any of this, I wouldn't have believed them."

"But this just makes finding these knights more important, doesn't it?" Aamira said. "Apparently it won't only lead to me finding my partner; it might give me a way to turn back into a pokemon too. Then I could help fight. I'm sure if I was still a pokemon I would be able to beat Zoroark since I can see through his illusions."

"You do realize that legend of the three knights took place thousands of years ago, right?" Darach said. "They're sure to be long dead by now."

"I don't think so." Aamira pulled out the book and opened it to some random page. "I've seen writing from thousands of years ago, and it didn't look anything like this. The card attached to the inside of the cover says that this is an original first edition, right? So that would mean that the events in this book took place hundreds if not thousands of years after that legend."

"But it's more than likely that this book is entirely based on fiction." Darach said. "If that's the case, then what will you do?"

"'If's' never got us anywhere." Lucario said. "It's a chance worth taking, right? Besides, there are a couple of explanations of how the knights could still be alive after all of this time, right? The original knights might have had children who they passed their knowledge onto and their titles were carried on through their future generations. It's also possible that they might not be human, right? They could be legendary pokemon that live forever."

"I never would have considered that the knights might not be human." Faris said. "Then again, I never would have thought they might really exist before today."

"There's something else too." Quill said. "Aamira's ability told her where the knights lived, right? It's possible that it could have just been something telling her where they lived in the past, but considering what she was looking for I don't think that would be the case. So I think that they must still live in the places that Aamira found out about through her ability."

"My thoughts exactly." Ul said. "I know everyone here has been training hard, but I don't think we can stand much of a chance against Zoroark, let alone his armies of both humans and pokemon. I say it's worth a shot."

"A dark cave could be found pretty much anywhere, so I think we should concentrate on the white forest. You called it the Ivory Forest, right?" Aamira asked Faris. "So how do we get there?"

"You're not considering going alone, are you?" Faris asked, to which Bisharp elbowed him in the ribs.

"Have you not been listening?" Bisharp said to her partner. "Aamira is more than resourceful enough to take care of her self and if there is any trouble, her friends can help her. You can't always be following her everywhere she goes. You and everyone else is needed here. This is her mission."

"But the Ivory Forest is back in Dellevis." Faris argued.

"It'll be fine." Bisharp said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It's far enough away from the capitol that she shouldn't draw too much attention to herself. No one goes there anyway since it was thought to be dangerous."

"I'm interested in what that Morrigan person had to say to them." Darach said. "It seemed like she somehow knew the day that they would be coming back to this world. She knew that Aamira had once turned into a pokemon too. She must have known about the book that would lead her to the three knights, but since that's such a rare edition it's not as if everyone has one. I don't know how she knows all of this, but if she was working for Zoroark then Aamira would be locked in a dungeon already."

"Unless she's after something else." Ul said. "She might be working for us, against us, or for herself, we don't know. Whatever Aamira would get out of meeting the three knights might be for her benefit or could benefit our enemies in some way."

Faris, Darach and Ul kept talking around in circles like this for a while. It was true that it would be dangerous for them to go back to Dellevis and that they didn't know who Morrigan was. Eventually Lucario lost his patience and spoke up.

"How can you be so cautious when supposedly fighting in a war? It's impossible to do everything without taking some risks and making sacrifices. If you're so worried about that, then just surrender already."

The three of them went silent for a minute before Faris spoke up. "You're right. The thing is, if it was anyone else this wouldn't be so difficult. What would happen if something happened to Aamira? She's the reason most of the people here have for fighting and she could be a dangerous weapon for Zoroark."

"You're underestimating me." Aamira said. "I started to lose control before because I had been locked up for so long, but I've had plenty of time to recover and I know what to expect. If I do get caught, then I'll be out by the next new moon."

"The point is, nothing's going to get done if no one can agree on anything or you don't have anyone to make the final decisions." Lucario said. "Aamira's supposed to be the queen by now, right? Why not let her decide on what to do?"

They each stared at Aamira, no doubt hoping that she would somehow decide it would be too dangerous to go and that she should stay in hiding.

"I'm going." Aamira said with such finality that they knew it would be pointless to argue.

"It's not like we can stop you." Ul said. "If we had tried to lock you up or something, we'd be just as bad as Zoroark and you'd just have to wait until the new moon."

"Well I guess you could just put me in a room completely covered in lights so I can't have a shadow, since Darkrai can only come into this world through my shadow." Aamira said. "There would always be a way for me to make a shadow though, so that wouldn't really be possible."

"Wait here for a minute." Faris walked out of the room without telling anyone what he was up to.

They all waited in silence for a near half hour. He walked back in carrying a circle of iron between his hands. It was dark but slightly shiny as if he had tried to polish it. Faris walked up behind Aamira and lowered the metal ring onto her head, keeping his hands on it as he did. Aamira had no idea what he was doing and it made her slightly nervous, but didn't make any attempt to move away or do anything else.

"Through the vows you have sworn and by the oaths I have sworn to you as a symbol of everlasting loyalty to you and my country, I now crown you the queen of Dellevis." Faris took his hands away from the metal circle and backed away.

Aamira, completely shocked by what he had just done, jumped to her feet and turned to him, ready to argue until she noticed his solemn expression.

"You made no vows and I made no oaths to you, of course, and this was only witnessed by one other citizen of Dellevis other than myself and not counting Unfezant, so this isn't official. I just wanted to make something clear to you. I went to the funerals of both of your grandparents and to your parents. I don't want to bury another queen in my lifetime."

Aamira nodded and threw her arms around Faris. "I know. And I'm sorry that I'm going to keep making you worry."

"I understand. Now get to bed, 'Your Majesty'. You'll need to rest if you're going to leave in the morning like I assume you will."

Aamira nodded and she snuck back up to the attic with Quill and Lucario, aware that she'll have to endure Quill teasing her about this for the next few days.

The cover story they were using to keep Aamira's aunt from asking too many questions was a simple one. They were going to go looking for Aamira's partner. It was as simple as that with no cryptic messages from her Aura Reading ability telling them where to go. There were no knights that they were trying to find, they were simply going to search anywhere and everywhere they could.

Before they left, Faris gave them a map of the region that included all three countries along with major cities and landmarks in each. The ivory forest wasn't marked, but Faris showed them where it would be. Bisharp made Aamira a new wooden sword. After practice a couple of days ago, she decided that Aamira wasn't ready to hold a real one yet, let alone actually fight with it.

Aamira and Quill attached their bags to Capricorn's saddle since they would be riding on his back. They would most likely be traveling with Capricorn a lot since they had no idea how far apart the knights would be living.

They stopped when night started to fall. They had managed to get back to the forest before it got dark. Now there was a problem that they hadn't thought about before leaving. They could easily stay in a burrow that Quill could dig out, but how would they get Capricorn to go underground? It wasn't like he was just a regular pokemon that they could talk to and convince to go somewhere he normally wouldn't.

Eventually they got lucky and found a caved in area in the ground that would be easy for Capricorn to walk into. Quill dug down into it to make the space under the ground bigger so that all of them could fit inside of it. Capricorn still didn't want to go in and put up a fight for a while until they finally managed to pull him inside.

Lucario groaned and collapsed against the wall of their little cave and rubbed both of his shoulders. "Are animals as stubborn as this?"

"Some are." Aamira replied. Her arms were hurting too from pulling him inside. "But Capricorns a lot stronger than most animals."

"It doesn't help that we haven't had much of a chance to train lately." Quill said. "Just digging out this hollow here made me winded. Training those other pokemon on how to use long range attacks wasn't the same as actually doing any training."

They had the chance to rest for a while, but once they were settled in, Aamira noticed another problem. "That opening's too big. The light from Capricorn's fire will give us away if anyone comes around here."

"I'll block the entrance with some leaves, since Quilava are at least a species that exists in this world." Quill said.

Aamira nodded. "Yea, this country has a lot of fire types too, so go ahead."

Quill left the cave and came back later with a few branches, which he placed over the opening. Then he took some thinner branches covered with pine needles and covered the other branches to make a canopy. By then it was impossible to see outside, but Quill told them after he dug back in that he had laid some other debris from the forest floor over top of it to make it blend in. After he blocked up the hole he had dug back in through, it would be impossible to tell there was anything there. The pine needles would help mask their scent and at the very least it would just look like some forest dwelling animal or pokemon had been digging around for roots or nuts.

The pine needles were a good insulator and kept it warm inside, especially since Capricorn's fire was still going. While they had started to wonder whether bringing him along was a good idea, the warmth he provided made up for it. They would have been perfectly comfortable if they had thought of bringing some of those pine needles inside to use to make beds before sealing up the entrance. Still, they had slept in less favorable places before and had no trouble getting to sleep.

In the morning, Lucario checked to make sure there was no one outside and they removed the branches from the entrance and left the cave.

Aamira took out the map and looked at their surroundings. "The map got us pretty far, but there aren't any mountains in the south here so it's hard to tell where we are."

"Too bad we don't have a flying type to help us out." Quill said.

"Well, no not necessarily." Aamira looked in her bag and took out a Sitrus Berry. These berries had no effects on humans, so she had really just been carrying all of the stuff in her bag around as an extra storage space for Lucario and Quill, but maybe now she would find a use for them.

Aamira whistled and after a few seconds, a Tailow flies around them and landed on a nearby branch and turned to Quill. "Ah, this human has an interesting whistling voice, doesn't it? Is it your partner?"

"Well… No, not really. And she can understand you too." Quill said.

"Oh, is that so?" Tailow perked up his head and looked in Aamira's direction.

Aamira nodded. "Sorry to bother you, but we're sort of lost. We're trying to find the Ivory Forest. I've got a Sitrus berry that I could give you in exchange for some directions."

"Ooh, yes yes, sounds good. I agree. Not for me though, I'll want to give it as a present. It will only be a moment." The Tailow skipped along the branch and jumped to Aamira's outstretched hand. Aamira held up the Sitrus berry for him and he took it in his beak and flew off. A few seconds later, Tailow came back and laded back on Aamira's arm. "Yes, she'll like it for sure, that I'm sure of. We live alone, you see, just me and the little one. Can barely fly herself. Out practicing."

"I see." Aamira said. "So can you tell us where the Ivory Forest is?"

Tailow nodded. "Sure thing. Just keep going southwest a little more. More west than south really, I'd say. The color of the trees will start fading. It's an unnatural place so we don't go near there."

"Thanks for the help." Aamira said as the Tailow flew off back in the direction of its nest.

"How did you know you would be able to trust whatever pokemon came by?" Lucario asked. "Couldn't it have been working for Zoroark?"

"Nah, wild pokemon don't like him since he blamed them for my disappearance." Aamira said.

"But how did you know that Tailow didn't have a human partner? Maybe it wasn't wild." Quill said.

"I don't know. I could just tell. Wild pokemon just act a little different." Aamira got on Capricorn's back and Quill joined her a second later and they started running in the direction that Tailow had indicated.

As Tailow had said, after a while the color in the trees started to fade. They looked sickly and half dead. It almost looked like a painting where all of the colors were toned down so that everything looked more gray than green. As they went, the trees grew taller to the point where they were about half the size of the trees in Sylva, which was still pretty big. The leaves hung over them creating something like a cave where the leaves nearly blocked out the sky.

As they walked towards the dense white forest, Capricorn whinnied and reared on his hind legs. He sounded almost as if he was screaming as he back away wide eyed from the denser forest.

"Ah, what's wrong now?" Aamira asked.

"He's not the only one." Quill said with a shudder. "There's something weird about this place."

"It feels sick…" Lucario added.

Aamira sighed and stroked Capricorn's muzzle. "Okay, you can wait for us here. I don't think any Alphas would come near here and certainly no soldiers or guards will."

The three of them moved on. Aamira felt slightly claustrophobic from the roof of leaves that seemed to be pressing down on them. Aside from that she didn't feel anything the way Quill and Lucario did.

"I don't understand it." Aamira said. "I can usually sense things that any pokemon can and I'm better at sensing auras than most other humans, so why isn't it affecting me?"

"Can we not talk about this just now?" Lucario asked. "I'm not feeling good."

After a while, Aamira had to carry Quill over one shoulder and support Lucario with her free arm as well as carry both of their bags. 'This is a dominion, isn't it?' she thought. 'How are we going to be able to deal with a mid-boss like this?'

Even though it did seem to be a dungeon, there weren't any pokemon in its. Tailow was right when he said that no one came near there. It wouldn't stay that way for long though. they reached a clearing where the sky was barely visible and the leaves and other plants had a slight tint of color to them, making them look a soft bluish grey.

A high pitched shriek came from up ahead of them. The ground shook as a Tangrowth swung in from a high branch and landed on the ground in front of them.

The Tangrowth attacked them with Power Whip, hitting all three of them who were unable to move. The three of them were scattered throughout the clearing and Tangrowth jumped into the air and slammed on the ground with both its legs and arms to use Earthquake.

Lucario attacked with Aura Sphere and Quill combined it with his Flamethrower. Tangrowth used Sunny Day, which powered up there attack but made it impossible for it to get burned which might have cost it the battle. Quill was so weak from the forest anyway that even with the sun his power was still only a fraction of what it would have been.

Tangrowth raised its arms and chunks of the earth flew into the air and shot towards them as it used Ancient power. Lucario dove in front of Quill and Aamira to shield them from the attack. Tangrowth attacked them with Power Whip again. Aamira grabbed Quill and Lucario and managed to jump over the vine. She let them go and when Tangrowth swung his arm back at them, Aamira pulled out her wooden sword and swung towards it. The Tangrowth screamed in outrage as the sharpened wood sliced through the vine and attacked with its other arm, which was also severed quickly.

The Tangrowth staggered backwards, unable to keep itself balanced and fell over onto its back.

"Are you guys okay?" Aamira asked.

"You cut off it's arms…" Lucario said.

"I don't think Tangrowth feel any pain in their arms though." Quill said. "They grow right back too, don't they?"

Aamira nodded. "Pokemon eat Tangrowths' vines all the time. They'll grow back."

The Tangrowth struggled on the ground for a moment before managing to sit itself up. "You've done well. Would you have cut my arms if you thought it would hurt or they didn't grow back?"

"I'm not sure." Aamira said. "If it was in self defense maybe, but not if there was some other way around it."

"'Not sure' is a phrase that the knights, who lived by their codes of resolve, do not like. You won't get far with those words. You did beat me, however, so you can continue on."

Tangrowth glanced towards the trees at the far end of the clearing and a gap opened between them. Aamira picked up Quill and helped Lucario to his feet and started walking towards the opening. As they approached the opening, Lucario recoiled and pulled back from it and Quill flinched and averted his eyes from the opening.

"You're friends are welcome to stay here if they can't continue. You're the one searching for the knights, so you can proceed on your own if you must." Tangrowth said.

"Is that okay with you?" Aamira asked Quill and Lucario.

"Do you think you'll be okay on your own?" Quill asked.

"There haven't been any pokemon aside from Tangrowth so far." Aamira said. "I think I'll be fine."

"After what happened between you and Faris before we left, I'd hate to let you go one your own." Lucario said. "I've been forcing myself on, but I can't go any further." Quill nodded in agreement.

Aamira left Quill and Lucario with Tangrowth. Tangrowth's sole purpose for being there was to guard the way forward, so she was confident that he wouldn't hurt them. The forest became darker further on. It must have been night by now or at least close to it. Luckily the leaves once again blocked out the entire sky, so there was no reason to fear the moon.

Aamira shivered as a chilling wind swept through the forest. The leaves moved, but only slightly. They almost seemed like they were carved from marble. With the branches and leaves pressing in from every direction, Aamira felt as if she was being encased in stone. She was starting to feel as if she was going to go mad in there.

She had to go back. Lucario and Quill were behind her. What was ahead of her? Some old guy who probably wasn't going to tell her much of anything.

'No, I have to keep going.' Aamira thought desperately. 'Have to keep going. I don't even have to think about my movements, just have to keep moving. I need something to distract me.'

She kept walking and as she walked, she thought. While she thought, a song came to her and she started to sing. "By the morning light, I'm gone, but never feel alone. Listen softly to the wind, it sings of the warmth it brings. Oh, sing for me now my brave hero as your flames shine through the dominion of ice. Oh, sing for me now, brave hero and dragon of white."

Aamira continued to sing, getting steadily louder as she went. As she got louder, she sang faster and for each beat in the song, she took two steps forward. She was no longer paying any attention to where she was going or what was waiting for her. She just concentrated on the song. She had found out that it was an old song in her world and her music box was the only one anyone she had asked knew about. This particular song was sung specifically in her country, while apparently a different version was sung in Neltona.

A bright light appeared seemingly out of nowhere and when it hit her it filled her with warmth and what felt like the first breath of air she had breathed since entering the forest. She hadn't noticed the light or the clearing that she was not standing on the edge of until she had been right up on it. The trees were still stark white, but there was a small field of grass and short wild flowers. The pines hanging over the clearing were a pale bluish color that imitated the sky. Aamira couldn't figure out where the light came from.

At the far edge of the clearing, there was a green quadruped pokemon laying on its knees. It was laying between a couple of springs of water that were bubbling up from between a few white rocks. She was singing to a small group of pokemon that included Cottonee, Petilil, Deerling, Budew, and Cherubi.

Aamira walked up to the group of pokemon and sat down next to the others and listened to the large green pokemon as she sang. She didn't really sing, so much as hummed. The pokemon turned to her and when their eyes met, the name "Virizion" came to Aamira.

"You have a beautiful voice. I couldn't match it, so I just hummed. Such an old song. I'm surprised your species with such a short memory still knows it" Virizion said in a light friendly tone.

Aamira smiled. Virizion's cheerful disposition was contagious. While Aamira felt close to madness before and was willing to do anything to go back, she now felt as though she never wanted to leave.

"You're name is Virizion, right? Are you one of the three knights?" Aamira asked.

Virizion nodded and stood up. Aamira hadn't expected her to be so tall when standing. She stood up too, but still just barely came up to her shoulder. "I should give you a test now. You should know you found this clearing because I allowed it. I don't like to fight and none of us like humans. By us I mean me and my two companions, of course. And yet you showed such determination to get through the forest, even through it's madness, I just had to meet you in person."

"If you don't like to fight, what kind of test do you want me to take?" Aamira asked.

Virizion knelt down and tilted her head forward. "Here's something I haven't done in a while. Hit my horns with your sword as hard as you can."

"Are you sure?" Aamira asked. Virizion nodded.

Aamira drew her sword and hit it against Virizion's horns, switching between each of them. Virizion's sharp, bladelike horns left small cuts in the wood and her head bobbed slightly each time Aamira hit one of them. Eventually Virizion asked her to stop and she straightened up.

"Why do you hold back so much?" Virizion asked with a small chuckle. "Are you afraid you'll hurt me?"

"I guess I am." Aamira said. "Well you seem so nice, so why should I try to hurt you?"

"Ah, but if I attacked back you would attack with your all, am I right?" Virizion asked.

Aamira wondered if she had been listening to what she was talking about with Tangrowth, but decided it didn't matter. "Yea, I suppose I would."

"And I would do the same, that's what you're thinking yes? Yes, that's what you're afraid of. If I was your enemy you wouldn't want to hurt me just because it would hurt me, it's because you wouldn't want to start a serious confrontation."

"Well why would I want to?" Aamira asked. "Why would I purposely want to start a serious fight if it could be avoided?"

"Because you have no choice." Virizion said to Aamira's surprise. All kindness in her voice was gone. She bent over again and shook her head. "Come at me again. I am your enemy. I will not pass you if you don't give it everything you have and whatever reason you had for finding me will be lost."

'I can't just attack desperately.' Aamira thought. 'I have to time it well and hit hard.'

Aamira stepped forward and swung with a shout. She noticed a muscle in Virizion's neck twitch, but couldn't react in time. She moved her horn just slightly so her attack missed.

"I thought I told you to attack me." Virizion said with a sly smirk.

Aamira attacked again and again, but the results were the same. Virizion was just too fast. Aamira growled under her breath, but then realized that Virizion was trying to get her worked up. Aamira stopped her attacks, thinking there must be a different way. There must be a way to get Virizion to stop moving.

She tried feinting, tripping Virizion, and attempted to get behind her, but she was just too fast and her movements were so graceful and precise. Aamira almost wished it was just a regular battle. She would have been beaten badly, but at least it wouldn't have been this exhausting, aggravating, or humiliating.

"Think now, what haven't you tried?" Virizion asked. "Or is it even possible?"

Aamira noticed the other pokemon who were watching around the edge of the clearing. Why were they there? 'They're not… I'm not supposed to take them hostage or something, am I? No, I want to prove my resolve, but not if it means that. The fact that I even considered it…' Then she realized there was one thing she hadn't tried yet, but she doubted it would work. "Virizion?"

"Ready to give up yet?" Virizion asked.

"No, it's not that. Could you please stand still so I could hit your horns?" Aamira blushed, feeling a little foolish for asking such a thing.

Virizion smiled and the kindness in her voice returned. "Sure." Virizion bent over the way she had been before.

Aamira knew she wouldn't move this time. She took a step forward and swung with a shout and hit Virizion's horn as hard as she could while still keeping the precision in her swing.

Virizion didn't even stagger. She really was an impressive pokemon. Virizion stretched her neck and shook her head slightly. "Yes, that was a good hit. I'm surprised you didn't give up or even resort to other methods." Virizion cast a glance to the other pokemon. "It was a humbling experience, no? That the solution was so easy? Do you resent me for it?"

"No, I just did what I had to." Aamira said, and realized at once that this was what Virizion had been trying to teach her.

Virizion smiled and nodded. "Very good." She walked to one of the stones that the water was pouring out of and pulled out what looked like a shard of emerald green glass. On it was a shape that looked like the swirling shape of Virizion's horn. She placed it in Aamira's hands and straightened up. "That is the first shard of the King's Medallion."

"Why is it called that?" Aamira asked as she ran her hand over the cool glass.

"Well who do the knights answer to? A king, of course. Or queen. But the first human to gain all three of the pieces later became the first human king, so King's Medallion it is." Virizion explained. "Cobalion will be difficult to convince, but Terrakion is somewhat understanding. Go to him next. If you impress him, we can try to convince Cobalion to see you."

Aamira pulled out her map and showed it to Virizion. "Can you tell me where to find him?"

Virizion studied it for a second before pointing to a specific mountain in the northern part of Neltona. "Here. This is a very accurate map. I commend its maker."

Aamira looked around and noticed that the other pokemon had vanished.

"They were merely an illusion, just as most of this forest has been." Virizion said. "I've heard from the trees that another pokemon has been using illusions. I don't know anything about this, but just know that legendaries can use them too. You should be careful."

Aamira nodded. "Thank you. But I don't understand why I couldn't see through them. I can see through Zoroark's illusions easily."

"Legendary pokemon are more powerful though, aren't they? Or maybe he's conserving his strength for something. I wouldn't know." Virizion said. "Well, you can go now. Your friends are waiting for you. I promise the walk out of the forest won't be nearly as long.

"Thank you, Virizion." Aamira tuned to leave and was surprised to see that the clearing's exit led directly into the clearing where Tangrowth was.

"You're... You're a lot like that child, you know." Virizion said as Aamira was nearly through the exit. Aamira stopped and turned back to Virizion, but she didn't seem to want to continue the subject. Not wanting to press for further details, Aamira turned and continued out.

Aamira found Lucario and Quill and the three of them walked back through the forest. She explained everything that had happened when she met Virizion and showed them the fragment of the medallion she had given her. For a while Aamira was tired, but happy. It was only when they got back to the cave they stayed at the previous night that she told them where Terrakion was. It was then she realized that Terrakion had only been maybe a couple hundred miles north of where they had started at back at Ul's manor. The journey that would have taken a day from there at the most would take them at least three days. Even though she doubted it was intentional, this was truly a test of her resolve.


	18. Chapter 18 Bad Omens

While at first Aamira wondered whether it had been a good idea to bring Capricorn, she didn't regret it when they started their journey back to Neltona. Even back when she lived in Quill's world it didn't seem like they traveled this much, not that they had much of a choice now. It would have taken them weeks to go that far on foot, but only a few days with Capricorn. In a way they were lucky, but they would have to hurry and find the other two knights before the moon became full. As long as they stayed in the shadows, they would be fine but Aamira didn't want to take the chance.

Capricorn was getting tired more often from the amount of time they had been traveling. While he seemed to be happy to be of some use to them, he couldn't keep running for days on end. He started to slow down after they crossed the border back into Neltona, but was still moving at a decent pace. That changed on their third day, however.

Storm clouds were starting to gather, although that was nothing unusual this deep into Neltona. A strong gust of wind swept across them and Capricorn shrieked and reared up, flailing his front hooves as he did. Aamira held onto Quill and Capricorn's neck as tightly as she could to try to keep from getting thrown off while Lucario used his aura to calm the frantic pokemon down.

Aamira jumped off of Capricorn's back and put her hand on his shoulder. He was shaking badly and she could practically feel his fear radiating from him. She turned to Lucario who was staring at some point in the sky. "What was that?"

Quill, from Capricorn's back, sniffed at the air. "It's going to be a bad storm, even for Neltona's standards. I think that gust of wind probably made it easier for Capricorn to feel it."

Aamira took out the map and looked towards the mountains in the distance. She had the place where Terrakion was supposed to live circled. It wasn't too deep into the mountains, luckily. They learned from a traveling salesman that no one ever went into the mountains from this side because it was too steep and dangerous, especially since the frequent storms eroded the sides and made landslides common. It was a good place for a legendary pokemon to hide.

Still, with Lucario being a pokemon that would normally live in mountainous terrain, they should have no problem getting up the steep slopes. If they got stuck, Quill could easily dig a new path and Aamira wasn't half bad at climbing herself, having apparently done a lot of climbing when she was younger. She didn't remember this, but she still had good upper body strength, as she had learned while playing with Felix in the forest south of Hearthlan.

What she was really worried about was the amount of time it would take them to get to the mountains without Capricorn. And after they did find Terrakion, there was no telling how far away the third knight would be. Then again, how would they shelter Capricorn from the storm? Capricorn didn't like going underground and making an entrance large enough for him was too much work.

"Alright buddy, you want to head back to the stables at Ul's place?" Aamira asked Capricorn with a soft pat on the shoulder. "Go on back, we can handle things from here."

Capricorn snorted and tossed his head before turning and running off to the southwest. If they needed to, they could just go back for him after they found out where the third knight lived, although that would probably only happen if Aamira could pass Terrakion's test.

They realized they wouldn't get much farther before the storm hit, so they started to gather some of the plants nearby to make beds and maybe start a fire. The good thing about the constant rain was that the grass on the planes was so high. Quill dug deep enough underground so that the water wouldn't drip through onto them and made some ventilation shafts that went down deeper so air would circulate but water wouldn't touch the area where they would be sleeping in. They made a fire pit inside and covered up the entrance and ventilation shafts so no one would see the light from the fires and it would help to keep water out.

It was still a little cold even with the fire, which quickly burnt out. The plants they were using for beds made it more comfortable at least and they insulated fairly well. The storm outside was still loud though and they had to stay close together in order to keep warm.

It was a wonder that they were able to get any sleep at all. It was only the loud bang of thunder and the ground shaking as a result of lightning striking somewhere nearby that had managed to wake them up sometime late into the night.

Quill tried to dig up to the surface to see what was happening, but came down quickly with his fur covered in mud. "It's a real mess up there. There's lightning everywhere and it looks like a tornado just tore through."

Lucario shivered as there was a flash of lightning from outside.

"Oh yea. Steel types get charged with energy when there's a lot of lightning, don't they?" Aamira said.

"It's usually not a problem with me since I can control my aura well enough, but there's something weird about this storm." Lucario got up and crawled up the hole that Quill dug out. Quill and Aamira followed out of curiosity.

It really was a mess outside. A lot of the plants had been uprooted by the strong wind or lightning strikes. Luckily the area was mostly open planes. If a storm like this had happened in the mountains or a city, it would have been much worse.

"It's not just the lightning." Lucario said. "I felt something weird in that gust of wind that spooked Capricorn earlier."

A sudden gust of wind came from somewhere off ahead of them. The three of them bent against the wind, trying to keep their feet on the ground.

"Stop!" Lucario shouted as he fired an Aura Sphere up into the clouds. It vanished for a second, before coming back towards them. Whatever it was didn't seem to be aiming at them or couldn't see though the clouds because it fell short of them by a few hundred feet.

A strike of lightning from somewhere behind the clouds revealed the silhouettes of a couple of figures with tails waving about like whips. After the light faded, a cyclone formed from a place near where the two figures stood. As the cyclone touched the ground, a bolt of lightning struck the ground in its center. The lightning and the tornado faded to reveal the two pokemon that had been hiding in the clouds.

The two pokemon raced towards their group with their tails waving behind them. The blue one's tail emitted sparks of electricity while the green one created small gusts of wind with just the slightest motion.

"Hmm, what do we have here, Tornadus?" The blue one asked its companion.

"I don't know Thundurus. Obviously meddlers who don't appreciate our fine arts." His green friend answered.

"The legendary pokemon, Tornadus and Thundurus…" Aamira muttered under her breath.

"Hmm?" Tornadus bent down to get a closer look at Aamira. "Hey, Thundurus, take a look at this thing."

Thundurus bent down also to get a closer look at Aamira. "Ah, a human is it? Ah, now I see. A Dellevan, is it?"

"It would seem so." Tornadus replied. "We won't be getting our revenge for what happened to us any time soon, but what do you say we throw this little thing around a bit?"

"Throw me around…?" Aamira tried to keep her voice from shaking, but failed miserably.

"We won't let you do that." Lucario said, stepping in front of Aamira.

Both of the legendary pokemon laughed and Thundurus spoke again. "Ah, you're the big mighty one who found where we were hiding before, yes? What do you think, Tornadus?"

"I think his attack is barely fit for humans to practice their stick and ball game with, Thundurus." Tornadus replied.

Aamira was about to point out that the game they mentioned had a name, but figured that she should probably keep from talking as much as possible. She had heard of Tornadus and Thundurus before, but was having trouble remembering their story. It was like when she first saw Virizion and Virizion mentioned a child. Aamira felt like she should have remembered what that child was that she was referring to, but couldn't. It seemed like ever since Mew modified her memory so she wouldn't recognize him or Darkrai, she had trouble remembering legendary pokemon even if she knew their names on sight.

There was a way to stop them from rampaging, she knew that much, she just couldn't remember what exactly that way was. While lost in thought about this, she hardly noticed an argument starting between Tornadus and Thundurus, and Quill and Lucario.

"It is a cute little rat, I suppose." Thundurus tried to pick Quill up and immediately Quill's fire flared up. Thundurus shouted and dropped Quill. "Little vermin…!"

"Calm yourself, Thundurus." Tornadus said. "They are nowhere near strong enough to fight us. Maybe seeing their friend here tossed around will teach them some manners."

Aamira screamed as Tornadus wrapped his tail around her waist and threw her up into the air. Instinctively Aamira pressed her arms and legs tightly against her sides and only stretched them out after she started to fall. She saw a bold of lightning heading towards her from Thundurus and she shifted her weight to the left to roll out of the way. She turned in the air so she was facing them and she could see the attacks coming easier.

The ground was coming up fast and while she could control how she moved in the air, she had no way of slowing herself down. Tornadus waved his tail and a pocket of wind formed under Aamira, slowing her down enough for her to land without injury.

Aamira managed to land on her feet and Quill and Lucario ran over to make sure she was okay. She was bent over with her hands on her knees and seemed to be shaking badly, but before they reached her, Quill noticed a strange noise coming from her. Aamira was actually laughing.

Aamira straightened up, still laughing, and turned to Tornadus and Thundurus. "That was awesome! Do it again!"

The two pokemon stared at Aamira in shock. "This kid is tough!" Thundurus said.

"Where did you learn how to maneuver like that?" Tornadus asked.

Aamira had to think about it for a second to remember where exactly she learned to do that. It had seemed like so long ago. "From riding on the back of a Latias. Sometimes she and her brother would throw me into the air and catch me before they hit the ground."

"You never told me that they actually threw you." Quill said.

"Well sort of. They would just come to a sudden stop while I was on their backs and my momentum would keep me moving forward at the speed they had been going, so I would fly off of their backs. It was really fun. There were a couple of close calls, which is why I never told you. I mean when you think about it, the only times we really ever saw Latias and Latios were when we were entered into major tournaments…"

"I see…" Quill said a little sourly.

"But still, you can't just let these two troublemakers toss you around all they want!" Lucario said. "What if one of those lightning attacks had hit you?"

"Yea, that wouldn't have been fun…" Aamira admitted.

"Thundurus, I'm thinking that this kid's alright." Tornadus said.

"I agree, Tornadus." Thundurus replied. "Her friends, on the other hand, are still ill mannered and just overall boring. We should teach them a lesson."

"A game then, perhaps?" Tornadus asked.

Thundurus nodded and picked Aamira up by his tail. While Tornadus's tail had been somewhat soft, Thundurus's tail was covered with metal barbs that would stick her if she moved too much. She suddenly didn't think this situation was nearly as fun anymore. "We'll be taking your friend with us to the Cloud Shrine. At the base of the mountain there's a shrine called the Abundant Shrine. An old mirror is displayed in there. Get the mirror and bring it to us, but be careful. There's a dreadfully strong enemy waiting for you there.

"Ah yes, I love this game." Tornadus said. "So if you didn't understand that the first time, your friend here is now our prisoner. Get the mirror to us, and you can have your friend back."

"Hang on, can we talk about this?" Aamira asked. Thundurus adjusted his tail so that the pointed ends of the barbs on his tail were pointing towards her. "I'll take that as a no…"

Quill and Lucario didn't dare move for Aamira's sake. They watched as the two pokemon dragged her up to someplace above the clouds.

There was a shrine above the clouds that reminded Aamira of the one that Togekiss lived in on the Sky Plane. A giant cloud floated at the bottom of it, hiding it from view on the ground. Thundurus placed Aamira on the ground gently, being careful not to stick her with the barbs on his tail.

"So… I'm your prisoner now?" Aamira asked.

"Nah, you're cool." Tornadus said. "We're just messing with your stick-in-the-mud friends."

"I guess you could leave if you want." Thundurus said. "Really though, I think we need to teach those friends of yours a lesson. If you stay we'll throw you around in the air some more. I won't shoot lightning at you either, unless you want some practice dodging in mid-air. Maybe in return you can teach us that stick and ball game, what was it called? Baseball?"

Baseball was a pretty popular sport among humans. Aamira had apparently snuck out to play it all the time when she was younger, but she wasn't sure if she could remember everything about how to play it. That aside, Quill and Lucario probably could use some practice working together. The only time they ever fought together was when Aamira was around, so she wondered how well they'd hold up on their own.

"I guess I could play along and stay here for a while. No more than a day though, okay? I'm trying to find someone. I'm not sure about being able to teach you how to play baseball though… Oh I have an idea. Have you ever heard of pokeringer?" She could tell from their expressions that they hadn't, which made sense considering it wasn't a sport that had ever been played in this world. This was going to be a fun time.

Quill had gotten used to keeping up with Aamira when she was a Riolu and he was a Cyndaquil, so keeping up with a Lucario as a Quilava wasn't too difficult. It had been a while since he ran at this speed though and while going at the right speed wasn't difficult, maintaining it was.

"Can we take a break?" Quill asked Lucario after about an hour of running.

"We're almost to the base of the mountain. Just pick up your feet and keep moving." Lucario shouted back at him.

Quill knew that they had to move as quickly as they could to rescue Aamira, but if they got into a fight with the pokemon guarding this mirror and they were exhausted from running, they wouldn't stand a chance. Lucario was tough, but even he had his limits. Quill knew how protective he was of Aamira though. He wouldn't stop for anything until she was rescued.

"Lucario, just wait for a second!" Quill shouted.

Lucario skidded to a stop and turned to Quill. "What is it?"

Quill took the chance to catch his breath before speaking. "I know you want to save Aamira. So do I. But look, the storm has stopped and it's still really dark out. I think we should take the time to rest for a while."

"You can stay and rest if you want. I can still keep going without sleep." Lucario turned and started running again. Quill sighed and ran after him.

It was hard to hear over the distant sound of thunder and their own feet hitting the ground, but Quill was sure that a couple of times he heard the grass around them rustling. It wasn't too surprising. There were a lot of nocturnal pokemon who would be running between burrows or small patches of trees. As Quill strained to listen to this particular rhythm of feet, he realized just how close it was to them and it seemed to be keeping pace.

Quill turned to the sound of the pokemon that was tracking them and attacked with Flamethrower. A bulky pokemon covered in long fur jumped out of the way and landed near them. Lucario finally stopped and turned to see what was going on.

The pokemon was one that he had seen once before, although he had never spoken to him. Quill had seen him before too, but this was the first time he had ever seen him in person. Stoutland growled and attacked Quill with Take Down. Surprisingly it didn't do as much damage as he thought it would. Even though he seemed like a high ranked Alpha in his dream, it didn't seem to be because of his strength.

"Wait, stop." Lucario said. "It's Stoutland, right? I can tell you're injured and that you're trying to hide it. I don't know what you want, but can we just talk this through first."

Stoutland growled but started to calm down, even though it was clear he wasn't going to lower his guard. "How could you tell I was injured?"

"From when you attacked Quill." Lucario said. "You were one of the pokemon who went after that Ursaring, weren't you? We ran into that same Ursaring. You had to have been pretty strong to hold your own against it and protect that Growlith that got hurt. Quill, do you think you can dig out a burrow large enough for Stoutland to fit in."

"Of course." Quill said. He started digging out a burrow some distance away while Lucario started gathering plants again to make a bed. He didn't feel like he needed to sleep. But Stoutland would definitely need to have a place to lay down.

When it was done, Stoutland crawled into the burrow and laid down on the makeshift bed. It was only when he laid down as heavily as he did that they realized how badly hurt he was.

"Here, let me see." Quill tried to look at the wound, but it was difficult with all of Stoutland's fur in the way. Eventually he found a large gash under his front right leg. It didn't look too bad, but the place it was in would surely cause a lot of pain. Quill was amazed that Stoutland had been able to keep up with them.

"How did you get hurt?" Lucario asked.

"Why do you care?" Stoutland asked. "I'm an Alpha, your enemy or your would-be ally. I know you two have been traveling with Destiny. Where is she?"

Quill turned away from Stoutland to hide his expression and to look for some bandages and berries in his bag. "We wouldn't tell you that, even if we knew. I know about how you chased her off of the edge of that cliff."

Stoutland was quiet for a moment while Quill was treating his injuries. "None of the other Alphas were around to help, so I've just been running on it for a while. It doesn't hurt as much as long as I keep moving."

"Why aren't any of the other Alphas around?" Lucario asked.

"We're technically not supposed to go into Neltona. All a part of Zoroark's big master plan, see? And before you ask, no I don't know any specifics about what he's planning. I'm on a temporary leave of absence in order to find my partner. She was only born about a week ago, but I have no idea where she could be."

"You seem kind of old to be just getting a partner." Quill said as he finished bandaging Stoutland's leg.

Stoutland stretched his leg and repositioned himself in a more comfortable arrangement. "It happens sometimes. I'll admit I am worried. Being as old as I am, I'm afraid my partner's lifespan might be cut short. I'll do all I can though. I won't just abandon her because I think that I'm the reason that she'll die one day. It would happen regardless of whether we ever meet or not."

"How do you search for your partner?" Lucario asked. "That's something I've been curious about for a while. Every human ends up with a partner at some point in their life, but considering the number of humans in the world and the number of pokemon, how is it possible?"

"We believe in the trials." Stoutland said. "According to legend, the dragon force was created by a great dragon that once ruled over the world. Humans are somewhat obsessive about this dragon and the dragon's color has been a debate between Neltona and Dellevis since ancient times. Neltona believes it was a black dragon while Dellevis believes it what white. To most pokemon, it doesn't matter what color it was, just that it was the start of the human-pokemon relationship.

"When a pokemon's partner is born, they can feel it through the dragon force. When one of the partners can control the dragon force, they get an approximate direction of where their partner is. When both can control it, the pokemon knows exactly where their partner is already. In Dargan where almost every pokemon has some control over the dragon force, humans tend to get their partners before they reach a year of age. In the event that neither can control the dragon force though, we believe that pokemon go through trials to prove to the dragon that they will be able to protect their partner.

"At the start of the trials, we instinctively know where to go first. We head to this location and there is usually an encounter of some sort. Through that encounter, we figure out where we should go next and then there is another encounter and so on until we're eventually led to our partners. While a pokemon might have suspicions as to who their partner might be and they'll know when they're near, only the human will know for sure who they're partner is when they lock eyes with their partner for the first time."

"How do you know that meeting with us wasn't one of those trials?" Quill asked.

"Believe me, injury aside, that thought was the only thing that stopped me from attacking you a second time." Stoutland said. "That's another thing. We don't know for sure what our trials are even when going through them. Some doubt that there are even any trials at all and that pokemon and humans are just destined to meet their partners. Come to think of it, it was that belief that originally made Destiny hate her name so much. Almost like destined not to have a partner, see? Zoroark said she had one though, although I don't know who it could be."

"He said that?" Quill started to wonder just how much information he could get from Stoutland, even if it was only half informed like the Alphas not being allowed to enter Neltona or Aamira having a partner. Anything could be useful. He thought back to the dream he had been having for around half a year before finding Aamira. One thing stood out from everything else. "What's the key that Zoroark is looking for?"

Stoutland tensed up and dug his claws into the dirt floor of the burrow. "I'm surprised that she told you about something like that."

"Well, she didn't really. I mean she mentioned it, but she didn't really explain in detail." Quill said. "Is there anything you can tell us about it?"

Stoutland shivered. "I shouldn't even know about it. I found out about it by accident when I came across Destiny and Zoroark arguing. They did this a lot. I got the feeling that both of them enjoyed it on some level. This time it seemed like things were starting to spin out of control. Zoroark had gotten frustrated because she refused to tell him where it was hidden. He said it was the key to a great treasure that would mean a future of peace for both humans and pokemon. He accused her of being selfish for refusing to tell him where it was.

"With the way Zoroark was acting, I didn't want to get caught spying on them. Just from overhearing their argument, I feared for my own life. Destiny had said some terrible things. She said she would never let that treasure fall into the claws of the person who was responsible for the deaths of Dellevis's two greatest monarchs. I couldn't believe it at first, but really I wouldn't put it past him.

"They kept arguing for a while. I guess what Zoroark said was kind of low for him. I know what your opinion of him is, but he's really more dignified than you might think. He said that she would never earn her partner's approval if she kept denying her fate. She'll probably tell you different, but she was the one to attack first. She got a hold of Zoroark. I think she was trying to break his arm, but all she managed to do was snap one of his claws in half. I heard Zoroark shout in pain. Trust me, I had my claw snap on me once, it's not fun. I think it started off just as a reflex. Zoroark struck back at Aamira with the same paw that was now missing half of a claw and cut her by her temple.

Now Lucario and Quill understood why there were only two scars, when they knew that Zoroark had three claws on each paw. Stoutland shuddered again. "You know how head wounds are, I'm sure; they always look worse than they really are. I had no idea how deep the cuts were, but Zoroark was in a rage and about to attack again. I couldn't just stand by, so I jumped in and stopped him. He was about to turn his attack on me, but calmed down when he realized what he was doing."

"He didn't ask how much I had seen, he just walked over to Aamira and picked her up. She had apparently been knocked out during the attack. After a couple of days when she was able to walk around again, she was the one who asked me how much I saw. I said I only saw Zoroark attacking her while passing by. After that she kind of stared at me for a while, hugged me, and ran off."

"She ran off?" Quill was disturbed by what he had heard, but he felt like he had to know what was going on. "I thought that she was a prisoner. Was she just allowed to run around wherever she wanted?"

"That's what I thought, until getting word that she had escaped. I was chosen by Houndoom along with a few others to search for her. When we found her, Houndoom burned her feet and ordered us to leave her there until the guards found her."

Quill could hardly get over what Stoutland had told them. So they didn't know anything more about this key, so what? What he really hated more than anything was that Aamira had basically just straight up lied about how she got those scars. If saying that someone was almost as good as a partner was one of the best compliments you could get in this world, what Zoroark had said to Aamira must have been one of the worst insults imaginable. Quill could hardly blame her for attacking Zoroark, but was she really so ashamed that she would like right to their faces about it?

It seemed like there should have been more to it; it wasn't like Aamira to just lose her cool like that even when insulted. Well, okay, maybe she would, but she had never tried to hurt someone as badly as she had apparently done with Zoroark. She did have a temper and she was trapped with Zoroark for over a year at the time though. Maybe Quill was just overanalyzing this, but something still seemed off.

"So here's what I don't understand." Lucario said to Stoutland and snapping Quill back to reality at the same time. "You were allowed time off from working for the Alphas to find your partner. Why didn't you just quit?"

"Just quit!?" Stoutland shouted as if this were the most ridiculous suggestion he had ever heard. "How could you even suggest that I just quit after the things that I've seen?"

"Well that's my point." Lucario said. "Why do you think you were allowed to take time off to look for your partner? My guess is because it means one more member for the Alphas, even if it is a human. Do you honestly think you'll just be allowed to stay with your partner for as long as you want and watch her grow up?

"Here's what I think is going to happen. You end up finding your partner and then what? There's nothing else to do but report back about it. You send a message and you get a reply sometime later saying that you have to return now that you've found her. Well obviously you can't just leave your partner behind. Your only course of action would be to take her with you. Being the loyal Alpha you are, you would take her from her home, possibly still at an early age since there's no way to know how long it will take you to find her, and she'll grow up as an Alpha."

"And maybe she would. Are you saying I wouldn't be able to protect her and be an Alpha at the same time?" Stoutland asked.

"I remember there being a Manectric when I was captured by the Alphas." Lucario continued. "He had messed up badly enough that he was forced to patrol the forest separate from his partner. Well that area was supposedly overrun with Ursaring, wasn't it? What are the odds that it would end up being his partner who was killed? What I'm saying is that you answer directly to Houndoom and Houndoom answers only to Zoroark. The next time you mess up, maybe it will just be a little slip up, who can say, what if it's your partner who gets disfiguring scars across her face? And that's just theoretical for what might happen in the event of a 'little slip up.'"

Stoutland tensed and dug his claws into the ground again.

"I don't know much about this human and pokemon partnership thing, so clarify this for me. If a human dies, the pokemon lives and can feel it when their partner dies, right? But you would never actually die when they do."

"You're not actually suggesting that they would kill my partner if I messed up badly enough just as a punishment?" Stoutland laughed bitterly. "That's absurd. There's no way they would…"

"But you've seen what they do and you're obviously terrified of the possibility." Quill said, speaking for the first time since hearing Stoutland's horrific tale. "Do you really want to take the risk? I mean just look how attached you are to your partner and you've never even met before. Just think what it will be like when you finally do meet her. You think you're living in fear now, just wait until Houndoom and Zoroark see your partner."

"You'll be their slave forever." Lucario added. It was blunt, but true. He had seen it first hand. This was how they threatened the Alphas and made them do whatever they wanted. This was the reason why so many looked hopeless and unwilling to attempt running when he first arrived in that campground.

Stoutland sighed and shook his head. "I think meeting the two of you was one of my trials after all. I'm feeling greatly conflicted now. I can't say that I'm quitting, how can I say that? Or at least I can't say it right away… I don't know what I'll do yet, but you two gave me a lot to think about."

"Could you at least give us some information on the Alphas?" Lucario asked. "I can tell that you have some animosity towards them. I promise they won't ever find out where I got the information from."

Stoutland nodded. "There isn't much to say really. 'Just chase and bark as if it's all we're good for' as your human friend once said. We just do what we're told and aren't really given much information aside from that. I could give you a warning though. That group you were in when you were captured was one of ten recruitment cells."

"A recruitment cell?" Quill asked.

Stoutland nodded. "The other nine were probably around the same size at the time. From the recruitment cells, the pokemon and their partners if they have any are taken to a secret area in the mountains to train in. Those recruits later become Alphas and a part of Zoroark's secret army."

"You're joking! You've got to be!" Lucario could remember how many pokemon were in that camp. It was no wonder so many of the canine pokemon in Dellevis were running to Neltona and Dargan. "So how big is the army?"

"Well the cell you saw was the one I was in charge of recruiting for. Zoroark and Houndoom were only there because they were passing through. I've seen new faces go through my cell five times and assuming that the other cells are the same, it would have to be around five times the size of all of the cells combined."

The two of them could hardly believe what they were hearing. Zoroark was making an army of that size? Just what were they up against?

"Hang on, there's one other thing." Stoutland said. "It's just a rumor and I have no idea if it's true or not, but sometime after I crossed the border into Neltona, I heard that a recruitment has started here too. It only happened recently and it's not noticeable yet, but wild feline pokemon have started to vanish. It started with wild canines in Dellevis too to keep anyone from noticing at first. But if it's true that the same thing is happening here, then we might be looking at an all out war with Neltona soon."

"We'll keep that in mind." Lucario said. "Aamira's still waiting for us. We should probably be going. You should stay here and rest until your injury has healed some."

"I'd understand if you don't want to tell me, but where are you two heading?" Stoutland asked.

Stoutland had seemed to be honest enough up until now. With his injury it wasn't like he could follow them. "We're heading to the Abundant Shrine to find some old mirror." Quill said.

Stoutland let out a bark-like laugh. "Ah, who told you there was a mirror there? That thing's been gone for ages."

"Is that true?" Lucario asked.

Stoutland nodded. "Sure it's true. It was some old artifact owned by the pokemon referred to as the nature spirits. There was Tornadus and Thundurus and their leader Landorus. Landorus lives at the shrine. If you don't believe me, just go look for your selves. It'd only a few minutes east of here if you keep running at the speed you were before."

So they were running again. At the very least they were rested up a little in case they got into a fight. Lucario glanced over at Quill who was running next to him. He had an odd smile that Lucario wasn't sure he liked.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"I don't know." Quill said. "I just thought it was interesting how you stopped that fight before it really started and led us to helping Stoutland. I guess it kind of seemed like something Aamira would do."

"Maybe she would have done the same thing if she was here." Lucario said and looked back ahead. "I don't know and it doesn't really matter. Aamira probably started acting that way from watching me before. I've done stuff like this before back in Atra as more of a means of survival and while she was there and apparently getting as much information on my world as possible, she might have started to copy me."

"It makes sense, but are you sure that was the reason she was copying you?" Quill asked. Aamira would kill him if she could hear what he was saying. "I mean I know she originally went there on some kind of mission to kidnap you, but she was keeping a close eye on you even before she knew you were the one she was after, right? And she gave up on her mission eventually too. She must really like you, right?"

"Yea. Maybe she did." Lucario said.

Quill's smile faded. This wasn't the reaction he was going for. It was a lot more fun messing with Aamira than with Lucario. "You know she still likes you, right?"

"I doubt it." Lucario said. "Even if she did, does it matter? If something happens to Roy or if he decides he doesn't want to rule Atra one day, I'm still next in line unless another Aura Reader is found at some point. The same for Aamira. She'll inherit the throne in this world one day. A time will come eventually when we won't be able to be around each other anymore."

"But when this is all over, what will any of that matter?" Quill asked.

Lucario stopped suddenly, creating a cloud of dust from where his paws skidded against the ground. Quill stopped a few paces ahead of Lucario and turned back to face him.

"Are you serious?" Lucario said. "Tell me you're not serious. Have you put no thought into this whatsoever? Did you really just assume that after all of this was done with that everything would just go back to the way it was?"

Quill didn't really know what to say. Of course that was what he had assumed. That seemed to always be the case. He just assumed that once all of this was over, he and Aamira would eventually just go home and keep up their work as an Investigation Team.

Lucario continued. "After we beat Zoroark, that is if we beat him, what will happen then? Think about Team Sleuth back in your world that's getting along without a leader for the time being and your sister who is no doubt missing you terribly every minute you're away. You won't be able to stay here, I won't be able to stay here, and more importantly, Aamira won't be coming back with us. Who else do you think would take over after Zoroark is defeated and Dellevis is left leaderless?"

"I didn't think about it…" Quill said. Messing with Aamira was definitely a lot more fun. "So at the end, we'll be separated again. And this time most likely for good. It won't even be because she disappears to save us or something this time! I don't know why but this outcome is even harder to accept than the others we've had before."

"That's… a bit selfish." Lucario said, and Quill realized that this was true. "I can't say I wasn't acting the same way though. I realized what that outcome would be like and yet I'm still fighting. I'm still helping Aamira and I thought you were under those same conditions but that's not true. So then why am I still helping if it means we'll eventually never be able to see her again?"

Quill couldn't think of a good reason either. "Why is it?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I'm the reason she's here in the first place? That we're all here for that matter? Maybe because it's my fault that we'll all eventually have to go our separate ways again?"

They kept walking. They were probably near the shrine by now and there was no reason for them to keep moving at the same speed they had been before. Quill laughed and Lucario turned back to him. "What is it?"

"I just thought it was funny that you just poured your heart out like that over something that isn't the least bit true. You really think you're the reason that Aamira came back? Come on, she would have whether you said anything or not after finding out that someone worse than Mew was here. If anything I think she's grateful. Sure she was mad at the time, but all you did was make that choice easier for her."

"I'm not sure that makes me feel much better about the situation." Lucario admitted, but he realized that what Quill said probably true. Even so, he would have to think of a way to make it up to Aamira eventually.

"So how about this?" Quill walked slightly ahead of Lucario and looked back towards him. "We don't really have any place in any of this, do we? We've been helping Aamira up until now because she's our friend. So let's keep helping Aamira, because she's our friend."

How could Quill think so childishly? Lucario couldn't understand the way Quill thought at all. It was such a simple way of thinking. Not that, he supposed, something like that needed to be complicated. Quill was right. There didn't need to be any other reason for them to want to help Aamira.

As they got closer to where they suspected the shrine to be, the plants around them became taller and more exotic looking. Eventually they came across a shrine that seemed to be about a fourth of the size of Ul's manor. It was embedded partially into the side of a cliff and had thick vines curling up the sides. The vines had also sealed the doors shut. Getting in wouldn't be easy.

Eventually they found a way to break in. Quill burnt the vines as carefully as he could so he didn't light the wooden shrine on fire. The vines were surprisingly hard to burn though. After they were slightly charred, Lucario was able to pull them away from the doors.

The two of them opened the doors and walked into the shrine. At the very back there was some sort of altar and a stand that they assumed was where the mirror had once been. As Stoutland had told them, the mirror was nowhere to be found. But then where was Landorus?

A shadow blocking the dim light from the outside crossed over them. Standing behind them was a pokemon that looked similar to Tornadus and Thundurus.

"Who are you?" The pokemon who they assumed was Landorus asked. "Could it be that the thieves who stole my mirror have finally returned?"

"Thieves?" Quill said. "Hang on, we're not thieves. We just wanted to talk with you."

"Thieves aren't welcome here." Landorus said. "This will be my revenge."

So Landorus wasn't going to be persuaded with reason. What a surprise. Something didn't seem right though. Why couldn't Lucario sense his aura? He couldn't sense Stoutland's before because he had been carrying that Leuminite that a good number of Alphas seemed to carry, but why couldn't he sense Landorus?

Landorus unfolded his arms in preparation to use some attack. It was then that they noticed the white stone that was tied around his neck.


	19. Chapter 19 The Ebony Caverns

Landorus sped towards Lucario and Quill with both arms raised and attacked them with Hammer Arm. They were both hit hard, being unable to dodge it because of Landorus's speed. The floor of the shrine was completely destroyed in the attack. The two of them managed to get out before any more damage was done to the shrine. If the shrine had collapsed on them, they could have been in serious trouble.

Even with Landorus's lowered speed after using Hammer Arm, it was difficult to evade his attacks or even find an opening to land their own. The only reason he had attacked them so suddenly was because the stone around his neck was muddling his thoughts. Unfortunately, it also seemed to make him a lot stronger. If only there was a way they could get it off of him somehow.

Quill eventually managed to get an attack in when Landorus was attacking Lucario with Stone Edge. He dug under the ground, but when he came back up to attack, Landorus easily evaded it by flying into the air. Of course he would be a flying type, but a ground and flying type? That was the weirdest combination. While Quill was still recovering from his attack missing, Landorus managed to get him with Stone Edge.

Both Lucario and Quill managed to recover simultaneously from Landorus's last attack and countered with Flamethrower and Dragon Pulse. Their two combined attacks hit Landorus. Landorus attempted to counter with Hammer Arm, but a burn on one of his arms stopped him. Lucario distracted him by firing several Aura Spheres at him while Quill jumped up on Landorus's shoulder and grabbed the leather strap that the white stone was attached to. Landorus managed to twist around and grab Quill, and slammed him against the ground with Hammer Arm.

Quill managed to keep a hold of the stone and pulled it off of Landorus's neck, but was knocked unconscious by Landorus's last attack. Lucario managed to keep Landorus from attacking Quill again by holding him off with Dragon Pulse.

"Landorus, stop! We're not thieves! We just came here to talk to you!" Lucario shouted in between attacks from Landorus. Without the stone and after using Hammer Arm so many times, Lucario was able to dodge easily.

"You're liars!" Landorus shouted. "Do you expect me to believe that you just came here to talk? What other reason would you have for coming here?"

"There is no other reason!" Lucario said. "We ran into Tornadus and Thundurus and they kidnapped a friend of ours and we came to find you for help. They told us to bring the mirror that was supposed to be here to them, but we heard along the way that it had been stolen already."

Landorus finally seemed to be calming down and at the mention of Thundurus and Tornadus's names, he seemed to believe Lucario a little more. He looked down at Quill, who had been hit hard by the last attack and the stone that was still clutched in his hand. Landorus wrapped his tail around the leather strap and pulled it away from Quill so it wouldn't affect him in the same way it had affected Landorus. "Your friend is hurt. You should do something about that."

Lucario ran over to Quill and knelt down next to him. He looked in his bag for some berries or other medical supplies, but he didn't have any left. He looked in Quill's bag and found that he was out too. They seemed to have used the last on them when treating Stoutland's injuries without realizing.

There was nothing much that Lucario could do without any berries. He thought that if he could help influence the emotions of people with his aura to get them to calm down, it might be possible for him to at least lessen the pain a little. Lucario placed his hand on Quill's side. He had always been good with Aura Seal and Aura Release, but any other Aura Reader abilities tended to be difficult for him. He still tried to think of what Aura Restore would feel like and tried to evoke something like that combined with the regular emanation of aura he would usually use.

An oddly colored aura came from his palm and spread through Quill's body. Lucario had no idea what he was doing, but Quill's injuries seemed to be healing even though it was slowly exhausting Lucario. Eventually he couldn't keep it going and the light from the aura faded. Quill regained consciousness almost immediately after and looked around, seeming confused about why he didn't have any severe injuries.

"Heal Pulse?" Landorus said. "Quite a useful move. Why didn't you use it before?"

"I didn't know I could do that." Lucario admitted.

"How did this thing get around your neck?" Quill asked Landorus as he touched the stone cautiously. He didn't want to just leave it laying around for someone else to pick up, so he put it in a closed pocket in his bag.

Landorus crossed his arms and closed his eyes as he tried to remember exactly what happened. "I heard Thundurus's voice and came out here to find out what had happened. The one who was waiting for me out here wasn't Thundurus though. I've never fought someone so strong before. I woke up the following morning on the floor of the shrine. My memory from then is a little fuzzy, probably from the stone that I guess was placed around my neck by the person who attacked me. I was convinced that they had stolen the Reveal Glass, which was the mirror you were searching for, that has been missing for hundreds of years."

"So it's really not here." Quill said. "So what should we do now? I don't think Tornadus and Thundurus will let Aamira go without it."

Landorus laughed. "If there's one thing I know about those two, it's to never believe anything they say. Your friend is fine. I'll call them here for you and tell them to bring your friend back."

Landorus closed his eyes again as if in a deep concentration. They waited around for a few minutes before hearing the sound of powerful wind off in the distance. Thundurus and Tornadus landed near them with Aamira riding on Tornadus's back. She didn't look hurt, which was a good thing, although it seemed strange that she didn't seem to be distressed by this at all. Of course, she was probably just playing around with them and letting them throw her into the air again. There really was no reason for them to worry.

From the second Aamira's feet touched the ground, Quill wanted to confront her about her story of how she got the scars on the side of her head. If Stoutland had been telling the truth, then Aamira had lied to them about it. It didn't seem right that Aamira would lie to them and their enemy would tell the truth, but Stoutland sounded so truthful at the time.

He hardly even noticed when Landorus smacked the two of them in the back of their heads with his tail, which from what any of them could tell seemed to hurt a lot. He started shouting at them in some other language. Whatever he was saying, it seemed to really be getting to Tornadus and Thundurus. For being witnesses to the battle between Kyogre and Groudon, this just looked funny to Quill and Aamira.

After Landorus was finally done telling them off, Tornadus and Thundurus flew back into the sky and headed back home. Landorus turned his attention back to the three of them. "I'm sorry for those two. They're like children. Sometimes their fun can go a little too far."

"You mean like the huge forest fire they caused that destroyed the homes of hundreds of pokemon and got all three of you exiled from Dellevis?" Aamira asked. "They told me about that. They still seemed to think it was the Dellevans' fault."

Landorus sighed. "They'll never learn. The conditions in this country are more to my liking either way though, and no one really takes notice of the storms they cause. They told me you were trying to find Terrakion, is that true?"

Aamira nodded. "We're really off of our original course now though. You wouldn't be able to help us, would you?"

Landorus nodded. "It's the least I could do. It's because of them that you're so far off course. Before that though, I have something I want you to have." Landorus went back inside the shrine and got something from behind the altar. He came back out with a silver ring with a mirror-like gem in the center and gave it to Aamira. "I hope that this will at least slightly make up for what those two did. I'll help you get to Terrakion, but if you ever need anything else, just use this to call for me and I'll be wherever you are within a few minutes."

Aamira stared at the ring for a moment before thanking Landorus and putting it in her bag. Landorus really felt responsible for Tornadus and Thundurus's actions. Aamira had never really felt like she was in any danger around those two though; they just didn't seem that intimidating somehow. She didn't want to misuse something like that, and decided that she would try not to use it.

Landorus waved his tail at the ground in front of the shrine. The vines that Quill and Lucario had destroyed started to grow back and forced the door closed, keeping it sealed tightly shut. So it hadn't been overgrown at all, that was just Landorus's security for whenever he left.

They somehow all managed to hold onto Landorus's back, although he had to wrap his tail around himself to make sure they couldn't fall when flying. It still wasn't a pleasant fight with all of the strong winds around the mountains and the cold air further up in the air. If they didn't feel like they were going to fall every second they were in the air, it might not have been so bad. They could all agree though that if they ever had to fly somewhere, they'd prefer to ride on the back of a pokemon that actually had wings.

In the side of the mountain, there was a narrow cave entrance that seemed to be impossible to climb up to from any direction. Even if they hadn't been sidetracked by Tornadus and Thundurus, it would have been nearly impossible for them to climb up this steep cliff side.

Landorus sat them down just inside of the cave. "Terrakion's Domain, Ebony Cavern, is just a little further into the cave. If you're looking for the three knights, it would be best if I didn't help. Good luck to you."

Landorus flew off back in the direction of the Abundant Shrine, leaving the three of them alone. They continued further into the cave, but like before Lucario and Quill seemed to be having some trouble continuing.

"Are you okay?" Aamira asked them.

"It's a little different this time." Lucario said. "It doesn't feel sick or tainted or anything like the last one."

"It just feels like going in there would be a really bad idea." Quill said. "Like, I don't know, something's in there waiting."

"Do you two want to wait here?" Aamira asked.

"You're joking." Lucario said. "There's no way we're letting you go in there alone. Besides, I can see in the dark and Quill has fire that can light it up. You won't be able to see without us."

Aamira nodded. She could see that the two of them had injuries from "Point taken, but eat some berries or something first at least."

"We're out." Lucario said.

"Out? How did you run out? We should have had enough to last a few more days. Well never mind." Aamira looked in her bag and found the few berries she had left and gave them to Quill and Lucario.

"We ran into someone when looking for Landorus. That could probably wait until later though." Quill said before eating a couple of Oran Berries.

The three of them continued on into the Ebony Cavern. Aamira could feel Lucario and Quill shaking beside her. Something about this cave seemed to emanate fear, although like with Virizion's forest, Aamira couldn't really feel it. She had never been in such darkness though. Quill tried to light it up, but the light of his flames didn't go far, almost like the darkness in the cave had substance. Something was messing up Lucario's ability to see aura too, so he couldn't see as well as he should have been able to.

"I'm not sure if the walls are some kind of reflective surface that can rebound energy or if this weird sense of fear emanating through the caves is just making me see things." Lucario said when commenting on his lack of vision.

Unlike with Virizion's forest, this cave did seem to have a few pokemon that lived in it. They didn't seem to want to protect it though. It was more like they had stumbled inside of it and had become disoriented in the darkness and were constantly running away from some nonexistent enemy hidden in the shadows.

Like with the other dungeon, it got worse the further in they got. They reached a large cave that was open to the outside. They seemed to be in the center of the mountain. The peak was completely hollow and bright light was coming in through the outside. Finding Landorus and getting to this point had lasted the entire night and morning.

In the center of the cave was a mound of bluish black stone similar to the rest of the stone in the cave. The only difference was the orange gems sticking out of it. Seeing no paths other than the one they entered from, they approached the mound of stones.

When they were within a yard of it, a couple of yellow eyes opened up, legs extended from it, and it attacked them with Rock Blast. Lucario jumped in front of Aamira and Quill and broke all of the rocks with his hands before they could hit. While Lucario was blocking their enemy's attacks, Quill dug into the ground and came up under him.

While their enemy was thrown into the air and trying to readjust, Lucario attacked it with Aura Sphere. It landed some distance away and managed to get back to its feet. It seemed badly hurt already but wasn't about to give up just yet. The gemstones all over its body started to glow brightly, mimicking the light form the sun above them.

An orb of light generated in front of its mouth. When it was big enough, it contracted into a small concentrated point before being fired at the three of them. Quill and Lucario attacked with Flamethrower and Dragon pulse and with their combined attacks were only just able to stall the attack in midair.

Before Lucario or Quill's strength could give out, Aamira ran forward while simultaneously drawing her wooden sword. Her attack with the sword was just enough force to push the attack back at their enemy and knock it out in the process.

"Do you think he's okay?" Quill asked.

"He's pretty tough, I'd assume so." Lucario walked up to the fainted pokemon and placed a hand on one of his gems. "Just in case though I might as well try this out again."

Lucario tried out Heal Pulse again, but the light was really faint compared to when he had tried it on Quill. Some of the pokemon's injuries were healed, but he was still pretty badly hurt.

"When did you learn to do that?" Aamira asked.

"A few hours ago when I realized that we were out of medical supplies." Lucario said. "Landorus was really strong with that white stone around his neck."

Aamira's eyes widened. "He had another one of those stones?"

Quill took the stone out of his bag and gave it to Aamira. "He knocked me out when I tried to take it from his neck."

Aamira looked the stone over. It was definitely like the one they had gotten from Ursaring. It was strange though, they were just like the ones that Mew had used before. But when Honchkrow and the Murkrow had carried them, they weren't driven mad like other pokemon. She would have to talk to Mew about this later.

"You don't think Darach and the others would want to use these on their pokemon, do you?" Lucario asked.

Aamira nodded. "I'm thinking it might be a good idea too, if we can find more and figure out a way to keep the pokemon holding it from going insane."

Aamira put the stone in her bag. It was starting to make her arm go numb like these stones tended to do. Quill and Lucario didn't seem to supportive of her idea, but unless someone thought of an alternative that didn't involve using Victini's power it was the only option she could see.

The pokemon that had attacked them started to move as it regained consciousness. It stood back up on its stone legs and stared at them for an uncomfortably long time before nodding and turning towards the far side of the cave, where the wall collapsed revealing the way forward.

Aamira noticed the way that Lucario and Quill were looking at the entrance into the deeper part of the dungeon. They did well so far, better than with Virizion's dungeon, mainly just because nothing would normally ever scare them for long. It seemed like the next part would be too much for them though. "Why don't you two wait here like you did before? I think I can get through the rest on my own."

Quill nodded, trying to hide his gratefulness. "Alright, be careful."

Aamira gave them a reassuring smile before moving on to the next area. Quill and Lucario looked back at the pokemon who no longer had any duty to guard this place and was therefore no longer their enemy. He looked back and took a long time doing it. This guy didn't seem to talk much and was starting to make them feel uncomfortable with his creepy blank stare. They hoped Aamira would be back soon.

Aamira felt like with every step she took, she'd run into a wall. It was strange feeling so claustrophobic, like the walls were closing in, and then reaching out in every direction and not touching anything. She felt like the darkness in the cave was working its way into her lungs and she was having trouble breathing.

"Fearing the darkness again?" A familiar voice said to her. "Do you need help?"

Darkrai's presence had been lingering and faint before, but now she felt like he was all around her, except for in the direction she needed to go. She was thankful for the help, but it didn't feel right.

"I'll be okay. That feels like cheating when you do that." Aamira said.

Darkrai laughed, a rare thing she had only heard once or twice at most. "You let Lucario and Quill guide you before now, why not me? Is this a test you have to go through on your own? The real test hasn't started yet."

"I guess so…" Aamira said. "Well let me find the way on my own at least. I wouldn't mind having someone here to talk to though."

Aamira felt Darkrai's presence diminish until it was concentrated just under her feet, as it normally was when he hid in her shadow. "Very well. What would you want to talk about?"

"I don't really know…" Aamira said as she felt around for a wall that she thought was directly in front of her.

"How about a story from this world?" Darkrai asked.

A story? Why not. Aamira had heard a lot of stories when she was staying in Dargan, since telling stories was something of a tradition there. Once a week all of the children would gather around the village elder and listen to old stories passed down through the generations. It would be better than telling one of Zoroark's stories at least.

"Between Neltona and Dellevis, there's a huge debate over the color of dragon said to rule over this world. In Dellevis' it's believed that the dragon was white with flaming blue eyes, while in Neltona they believe that the dragon was black with shocking red eyes. Both countries believed that one of their ancestors was once a partner to the dragon and so these debates caused a feud that's lasted thousands of years and has nearly caused several wars. Dargan knows different though. They know that there wasn't just one dragon, but two; one white and one black.

"A long time ago, my ancestor Cyrus, who later became the first king of Dellevis, was partners with the white dragon. What I didn't know until hearing this story was that he had a twin brother named Darius, who would later become the first king of Neltona. The two brothers fought and urged their partners to fight with them. Cyrus thought that Darius was deluded and that he had a habit of ignoring the truth of the reality he lived in. Darius, on the other hand, thought that brother was too weak to bend the world to his whim and to create a world that reflected his ideals. So Darius fought his twin to attempt to make his brother see how strong his ideals were and Cyrus fought his twin to attempt to make his brother see the truth of how the world worked. I guess in a strange way, they fought because they loved each other.

"While the brothers were still loved by their followers, the dragons became something to be feared. Every time they collided in flight, the air would shake and the ground below would burn. During one particularly deadly forest fire, the lives of many of the pokemon uninvolved in this war were lost. Those that survived had nowhere to go.

"No one knows who it was or why they did this, but just when the dragon's power was starting to weaken, before the final blow that probably would have killed them both, a lone figure stood between them. These dragons who had fought on for months with their partners on their backs, without sleep, food or water, suddenly came to a stop. Their partners tried to urge them on to finish the battle that had become too serious for what was most likely originally intended, but the dragons refused.

"No one knows who this person was who was either foolish or brave enough to stand between the two dragons, but that one and only one person standing between them was what ended the war. The two brothers retreated to remote areas of the world along with the armies following them that had yet to clash. The descendents of those two armies became the citizens of Dellevis and Neltona."

"Why didn't the people of Dargan choose sides or try to help?" Darkrai asked.

"I always thought that was a more personal side of the story." Aamira said. "Back then, Dargan was just a small nomadic tribe. Their leader was a renowned psychic who both of the brothers had sought advice from at one point. Before the war started she made this statement: there isn't a single person in this world who could stop the events about to unfold. I guess that was her only prediction that didn't come true."

"That could be true, but it seems that humans have forgotten a few pieces of the story." Up ahead of them, a light appeared in the tunnel. Aamira had completely forgotten where she was while she was telling Darkrai this story. The voice that was telling her this, she assumed, was Terrakion. Darkrai seemed to notice the light up ahead too, because he shrank back into a slight shadow with a barely noticeable presence. Aamira didn't really want him to go, but Darkrai didn't like being around other people.

Aamira ran forward and came to a well-lit cave. The stones were shining all around. Towards the back of the cave was a large spherical boulder that was at least twice Aamira's height. Standing in front of the boulder was a grey and brown pokemon. While Virizion had been sleek and elegant, Terrakion seemed to be all about power.

"What did you say? About me missing some details?" Aamira asked.

"We were in the war too." Terrakion said. "Virizion sided with Cyrus and I sided with Darius. Our leader was completely disgusted with us and ran off to think and train on his own. Well it's not important. You're here to take my challenge, right? Virizion used telepathy to tell me about you."

Aamira nodded. "I was told this would be the only way I could find my partner."

Terrakion tilted his head as he studied Aamira's appearance. "You're older than you look, aren't you? I'd guess you were already an adult. You still don't have your partner?"

"Yea. I'd rather not talk about it too much if that's okay with you." Aamira said.

Terrakion nodded and backed away. "I understand. Alright, here's your challenge. Lift this boulder back here. That's all you have to do."

Aamira walked up to the boulder and looked up at it. "You're joking… This thing is huge!"

"And heavy too." Terrakion said. "You are a bit small and you don't look too strong. If you don't think you can do it, I might be able to find something else."

Aamira stared back at the boulder. It was big and Terrakion was offering, but maybe she could do it. With her unusual strength, maybe it wouldn't be too hard for her. "No, I think I'll try it."

"Really?" Terrakion said, looking stunned. "You know if you accept this as your test, I can't give you any other options later if you can't do it. You'll just fail and you'll have come all this way for nothing."

Aamira nodded. "Yea, I think I'll try it."

Aamira wrapped her arms around the boulder, trying to get a firm hold on it. Even if she could lift it, she would probably be feeling this in the morning. Once she managed to place her hands at good places to keep it from slipping out of her hands, she pulled up as hard as she could. The boulder flew into the air and Aamira lost her balance and landed on her back with the boulder landing on top of her, knocking the air out of her lungs. For that short moment before falling, she had the odd feeling of being strangely unbalanced or maybe just too strong that she normally got whenever lifting something that she thought would be heavier than it really was.

Terrakion laughed and rammed into the boulder, making it roll off of Aamira. "Not bad for a human. Not bad at all. Would be more impressive if it wasn't entirely hollow, of course."

Aamira stretched and forced herself to stand back up. It didn't really hurt, but it had been a shock she hadn't been expecting. "Hollow?"

Terrakion walked up to the boulder and sliced through it with ease using the blade-like horns on the sides of his head. The inside was mostly hollow aside from a few small purple crystals that lined the inside. "It was a geode. Gigalith can grow them but it takes some energy to do. Luckily there aren't many people who come through here to take this test. And what's this?"

Terrakion bent over the bottom half of the geode and came back up with another piece of the medallion in his mouth. This one looked like a piece of stained glass, like Virizion's, but this one was red and had a shape on it that resembled one of Terrakion's horns. While Virizion had been nice, Aamira thought that she probably liked Terrakion better. It was strange how a pokemon who could spend hundreds of years on his own could manage to keep a slight sense of humor.

Terrakion threw the piece of the medallion to Aamira and showed her how to attach it to the first one, using the grooves on the back that were molded into the metal frame. When the two were connected, it was impossible to tell from either side that they had once been separate pieces.

"Now I should probably say something really profound about resolve…" Terrakion said. "This isn't really my kind of thing. Don't let challenging obstacles get in the way of your dreams, yadda, yadda; you don't know what you can overcome until you try and all of that. Taking shortcuts is bad, whatever, you passed."

"You don't sound too enthusiastic about all of this." Aamira said.

"It's just difficult teaching something that just seems so second natured to me to someone who most likely also finds it second natured to know, you know? I mean, obstacles getting in the way of your dreams? Really? That's basically what all of these challenges are, aren't they? Just obstacles to stand in your way. I mean, we could just as easily give you the medallions without testing you, but there's tradition and all of that nonsense."

"The thing is…" Aamira wasn't too sure how much she should say. Would Terrakion take the piece of medallion back if she said something like this? "I don't think I really do have much of a resolve. I don't have much of a dream either. I mean I have a short term goal of trying to find my partner, but after that I don't know what I really want to do; I've always just done what I've had to do."

"Hold on, so you don't have a dream, and you don't have a partner? You've never when you were younger wanted to be a nurse that takes care of injured pokemon or something? You've never asked mommy and daddy for a Ponyta for your tenth birthday? Or wished to marry a prince? This could sound ridiculous to you actually. I don't know what kids wish for these days."

"Actually I got a Ponyta for my sixth birthday and a Houndour for my tenth." Aamira said to Terrakion's surprise. "And I was supposed to marry a prince, but things went about as badly as they could for him…"

Terrakion sighed and shook his head. "You're royalty. I get it now. Just had everything handed to you your whole life? Surely you must have dreamt about being just a normal kid like everyone else?"

"I guess so…" Aamira said. "I mean that's the only reason I could think of for why I would sneak outside at night to play with some other kids that I met… somehow… It's kind of hard to tell with amnesia though, since I can't remember any dreams I might have had before two years ago."

"AND you have amnesia!?" Terrakion said. "You're just a walking disaster, aren't you?" Aamira laughed nervously, not really sure how she should respond to this. It certainly did seem like it at times. "Alright, alright, here's what we're going to do. Before you're allowed to leave, I'm going to help you find SOMETHING to work for. Even if it's something small, even if it's something you might not ever consider doing, it could at least spark some idea for later, alright? Okay, so just tell me your life story I guess and I'll try to figure out what's wrong with you."

Aamira was sure Terrakion didn't mean to be so blunt and forward when he said they would figure out what's wrong with her. She mainly just told him about Zoroark and how they were trying to fight him but were mainly just running around and avoiding being found by him as best as they could. Of course she also explained about how her mom had died and how she had gotten amnesia. Eventually Terrakion just told her to stop.

"Alright, I'll admit it's been a while since I've heard a story like this and I really shouldn't have gotten shaken up the way I did, but your story is at least nothing new to me." Terrakion said.

"It isn't?" Aamira asked.

Terrakion shook his head. "No of course not. Stuff like this used to happen all the time back in the day. When Zoroark first showed up… Well that was before my time actually. Let me explain that better. When he first reappeared after I was born, I was probably about your age actually, people still knew about him, people were still scared of him and they were looking for a way to get out of their situation. Because of this, any pokemon who had the power to do so had themselves turned into or incarnated as a human. Humans were still forever oblivious with their short memories and bad record keeping skills and were therefore entirely oblivious to their tyrant's return. All of those pokemon turning into humans ended up causing a bit of a problem though. They shunned most humans for one reason or another and usually ended up pairing with others like themselves. As a result, the next generation of humans had a huge population of human-born pokemon. Of course with their strength they were usually hailed as heroes, but it didn't last long. Most of them would find a way to turn back into pokemon and those that didn't were usually killed for one reason or another.

"So human-born pokemon… not really unusual for me. There was a lot of turmoil between different kingdoms at the time too because of Zoroark. Cyrus and Darius for example. Parents both died and who would take over? It all depended on who would run the kingdom better. Of course one wanted to run a kingdom built on what they could do while the other wanted to run a kingdom that accepted things the way they were. Oh Zoroark played off of this for sure. They held an election to decide who would be the next king. He fixed the results so it would be a dead tie. Sent both sides into turmoil, got Cyrus's partner kidnapped at one point even, which lead to that curse that basically caused everyone around him and his descendents to die. Trust me, your story is nothing new. You might even have an easier time with moving on because of your amnesia, who knows? Okay so when you were in this other world with your friends, was there ever anything that you really wanted to do?"

Well of course Aamira liked being an Investigation Team member, but other than that? "I mainly just helped with whatever my friends needed to do."

"You're a good person and I commend you for that, but there has to be something that you alone want to do. What happens if you and your friends grow apart? I don't even know if that would happen. It might if you decide you want to do something that they aren't interested in, but that happens, right? Just think of something, anything that you would want to do all on your own without them holding your hands."

Again with that straight forwardness. Terrakion was right though. Aamira probably had been relying on them too much. What things did she enjoy about that world aside from investigating? She liked watching plays and flying on another pokemon's back and playing with the younger pokemon. Something really was missing though when she thought of all of this. There was that sort of spark that she had known before. An excitement that would make her heart race. It was caused by the heart racing excitement of a difficult investigation. Something that really forced her to open her eyes and concentrate as hard as she could, with a good twist and a battle to go with it. How could she ever do anything else? There was nothing else that gave her that thrill.

But what else was there to do? There would always be mysteries that needed solving and dungeons that needed exploring, but what else was there to work for? They had already visited every country on the continent and one across the ocean and several that weren't even in the same world and they had already gained Master Rank, which was the highest achievement for them. She still loved investigating, Charizard had assured her of that, but there had to be something more to it.

She thought about Daisy, who she knew was extremely excited about becoming and Investigation Team member after graduating, just as her older brother had been and just as Aamira had admittedly been even though she had been more or less thrown into it than having dreamt of being an Investigator. No doubt she would feel the same spark that Aamira had felt once. Good for her. Aamira realized then that she already knew what she wanted to do, or at least had an idea of it.

"I think I know now." Aamira said, without elaborating.

"What, you're not going to tell me?" Terrakion asked.

Aamira shook her head. "No, I don't think so. The idea's still kind of a work in progress."

"Is that really the reason?" Terrakion asked. "Or are you just afraid that your new dream won't come true?"

"That might be part of it too." Aamira admitted. "There's a huge chance that I won't be able to do what I want to, but it's definitely something that came from me for once. Then there was that whole thing about overcoming obstacles. I doubt it will happen but I'll still work towards it. I'm still not telling anyone though. That way if I can't make it happen, I won't have anyone to blame it on. No hand holding, as you said."

Terrakion nodded. He seemed more disappointed than anything. "You don't really have that conviction yet. Maybe meeting with Cobalion would change that? I don't know. It worked with that kid. Kid was a hopeless cause before she met with Cobalion."

"Who's that kid?" Aamira asked. "Virizion said something about a kid too."

"Her parents were caught up in the crossfire of the war so she like so many others was left orphaned. We couldn't find any other relatives though, even though we had managed to do it with all of the other kids we were protecting during the fight, so the three of us took her in and raised her. Stubborn kid. Head full of rocks, kind of like me, I guess." Terrakion laughed. "She was a good kid though. I'm sorry, but talking with you is kind of exhausting. I'd rather not say more."

"I understand. Quill and Lucario are probably waiting for me anyway. So where can I find Cobalion?"

"I have no idea." Terrakion said. "I know were Virizion is and she knows where I am, but Cobalion didn't tell either of us. I'll tell him about you through telepathy the way Virizion told me about you and he'll probably get in touch with you eventually through that medallion. Yes, probably and eventually. He tends to work at his own pace. Out of the three of us he hates humans the most too. Yea, I'll tell him about you being a human-born pokemon. That should help at least. Probably."

"Ugh… well, thanks I guess…" Aamira said. "Wait, this isn't another test, is it? Am I supposed to go looking for him or try to figure out how to contact him or something?"

"No unfortunately. You just have to wait. Trust me though his test is a tough one. No tricks to it like with me and Virizion. Pass or fail, no meeting half way or negotiations or anything like that. He's more into action than words, is what I mean."

'So he's nothing like you.' Aamira thought. "Well I should get going then. Quill and Lucario are still waiting for me with Gigalith. I guess it's kind of a good thing he'll take his time contacting me. We need to head back home to stock up on some supplies. We used up all of our medical supplies."

"Yea, there's a difference between resolve and recklessness. Ah, I remember this one time when—"

'Didn't he say something about talking to me being tiring? He's the one doing all the talking!' Aamira kind of started to zone him out after the first few seconds. She started daydreaming and thinking of how she could make her new idea become reality. It might not be too hard actually, but she didn't know if she would need some sort of license for it or something in Quill's world, plus she would need to find a premises to build it on… There was a lot of work to be done. Thinking about all of this though made her really excited, more excited than she had been for in a long time.

"—and when he came out of the river, there was a Stunfisk just sitting there on his head! Ah… you wouldn't have believed it after meeting him though. He was really humbled after that." Terrakion laughed. "Well, I digress. I'm sorry, you have to get going don't you? I hope I'm not holding you up."

"Huh?" Aamira finally snapped out of her daydream. "Oh, no it's no problem. Thank you for the help though and all of the… interesting stories." Aamira turned to leave, but Terrakion shouted after her.

"Oh wait, one more thing!"

'Oh what now…?' Aamira turned back around to face him, trying her best to hide her displeasure.

"Here's something interesting I thought you should know. That kid already had a human partner once, but pokemon with an unlimited lifespan like us might sometimes have more than one human partner. She's a pokemon that has come to symbolize resolve. If you need to prove your resolve in order to meet your partner maybe it's her. I know it's rare for partners to be the same gender, but you never know."

Aamira nodded and turned to leave again. "Thanks for telling me."

She had a lot to think about this time. She hardly even paid much attention to Quill and Lucario when they met back up. They made their way back out of the caves at which point Quill and Lucario seemed to be able to breathe properly again. They found a path back down the mountain, although it was a perilous one that involved jumping onto the edge of a cliff fifteen feet below them. After they had reached some stable ground, Lucario finally spoke.

"So what happened? You've been smiling since you came back from meeting with Terrakion."

"What do you mean?" Aamira asked. "I always smile."

"It kind of just seems more genuine than usual." Quill said.

"I guess I just remembered some things that I never should have forgotten about." Aamira said. "Maybe I just finally figured out what I'm doing."


	20. Chapter 20 Need for Power

Quill woke up under the oak tree that grew near the center of Ul's farm. It was good to have some nice weather after what they went through with Thundurus and Tornadus. There was a slight breeze and a smell of moisture in the air from a small shower that would move in sometime after nightfall. He didn't really mind the rain as long as it didn't ruin a good day.

They had been back for a couple of days now, had the chance to rest up a little, and restock their supplies, but Cobalion still hadn't spoken to Aamira. It felt like there must have been some sort of trick to it, but Terrakion had convinced Aamira that this wasn't the case for once. Until he spoke to them through the medallion, they didn't have anything to do but stay put.

Ul and everyone else wanted to hear all about what had happened of course. Up until the point where Aamira showed them the pieces of the medallion she had already collected, Quill had never seen Darach's eyes go so big. Surely he must feel as if he was in one of his books that he most likely thought were completely fictitious up until this point. As much as he tried, he couldn't hide his jealousy from Quill's sharp ears.

Quill stood up and looked around for a good sized stick. He found that Blue liked to play catch with things that were thrown to him and would run after them if they were thrown too far. It was funny to watch and good exercise for Blue. Since he didn't have much else to do, he thought he'd go play with Blue until dinner and maybe later try to look for that silver watch that Purrloin swiped.

Closer to the house, Lucario was doing something he considered to be more worth his time than throwing sticks. Quill had told him about the game he came up with, and for a while Lucario wondered whether he was the only one planning on doing anything productive while he waited.

Lucario leaned over the edge of the pool, waiting for Alomomola to resurface. He came back up a few seconds later with a small fish wrapped in his dorsal fin and tossed it onto the edge of the pool.

"Give it your best shot, then." Alomomola said. "Remember, if you can't do this that little fish might die."

Lucario didn't need to be told twice. He placed his paw on the fish and used Heal Pulse. The fish gasped for breath as they usually did, but didn't seem to be suffocating as quickly as the others. Just as Lucario was hoping he had finally gotten it, the fish that had previously been struggling as hard as it could to get back into the pool suddenly went still. Lucario ended his attack suddenly and pushed the fish back into the water. The fish swam out through one of the grates at the bottom of the pool that connected to the waterways that led to the ocean.

Alomomola shook his head. "That's not it. I know you don't like the way you have to learn this, but it's not as if you can go around injuring people just to heal them again. That would be just as bad."

"At least that way there wouldn't be any danger of killing someone!" Lucario snapped at him.

"I really don't understand you. I'm a healer by nature and even I eat fish."

Lucario growled and punched the ground in frusteration. "What am I doing wrong? I was able to do it just fine when healing Quill and when I tried it later it didn't seem as strong as before. Now it's like I can't even do it anymore."

"It's because you're not trying." Alomomola said. "You think you are, but you're not. When you healed Quill, all you thought about was trying to ease his pain as best as you could. Later you thought about healing that dungeon's mid-boss when you did it. The way I see it, before you were able to do it because you only wanted to cure someone's suffering. You only thought of curing them. You more than anyone should know how sensitive aura can be to emotions. Instead of thinking 'I hope I can cure them' you should be thinking 'I will cure them'. If you don't, then you'll fail without a doubt."

"Has that ever happened to you?" Lucario asked. "I mean, has it ever been so bad for you that you've regretted it afterwards?"

Alomomola looked away from Lucario and mumbled, "I still regret it."

Lucario had been at this all day and one of the fish he was supposed to keep alive nearly died. It was difficult for him to feel much sympathy for Alomomola, but he could also relate because of what he had been doing. Besides, he had been the one who had asked for training. It wasn't right for him to act this way to Alomomola.

Lucario apologized, watched Alomomola swim back through the grate to catch another fish, and waited. It seemed like waiting was all he ever did anymore.

Aamira had started to become really close to Darach ever since they returned. She claimed to have not had time to read through the book all the way because they hadn't had the time. Darach must have thought that she just didn't care about reading anymore, but realized that wasn't the case when he volunteered to read it to her while she trained with Faris. Eventually she got so interested in the story that Faris had to make him stop because she was getting too distracted.

When she returned, Aamira was surprised to find that Porygon had nearly mastered speech. He could now talk in complete sentences most of the time and usually gave replies that made sense. He was still unclear on what a few words meant and had some trouble with articles, which didn't really have a meaning that could be explained easily.

"I think this is as advanced as he's going to get without adding on the Up-Grade." Darach said while leaning on the edge of Aamira's chair.

"I think you're right. It's probably at this point that Zoroark would implant the AI in a physical body so it could learn on its own. Have you figured out a way to make the Up-Grade compatible with these computers?"

Darach's eyes widened the way they usually do whenever he gets excited. "As a matter of fact, I have! I just wanted to get your permission to run it since Porygon is technically your program. All I had to do was make a separate grid with a disk drive and attach it by a USB. Well the gridding was a little confusing, I'll admit. I don't know what kind of computer the guy that made this was using, but it's really amazing. It would have to be the equivalent of the technology used in one of Zoroark's labs or better."

"Well it's good to know he hasn't lost his touch." Aamira said. "Alright, let's hook up the Up-Grade and see if it works."

Darach installed the disk drive on a different computer to keep Porygon from messing with it before it was ready, but predictably Porygon just jumped between the computers to get to the one that Darach was working on.

"I don't think he's capable of learning right from wrong yet." Aamira said. "Let's be careful with how we handle this after the Up-Grade."

"If it even works." Darach said as he started up the program.

Porygon jumped as a virtual model of the program appeared on the screen. It resembled what a TM would look like after it had been used. Porygon circled around the disk, acting cautious at first, before poking it with his beak. This started some sort of download that scared Porygon, but from the moment he pecked at the disk, he was frozen in place and unable to cross to the safety of another computer.

Porygon slowly turned white and two dimensional. The pixels that made up the white silhouette became misshapen. Aamira was starting to worry that something had gone wrong and that Porygon was being hurt when the deforming shape became still again and the color and dimension started to return.

The pokemon on the screen now wasn't Porygon. This pokemon was entirely made of ellipses rather than polygons and had a sharper look to it. It's eyes seemed somehow more intelligent too.

"Aamira? Darach? What happened?" Porygon asked.

"You were upgraded. It's to make you smarter." Darach said. "Wow you look so sleek now, like you've been upgraded to Porygon version 2.0."

"How about Porygon2 for short?" Aamira suggested.

"You're renaming me? You don't like Porygon anymore?" Porygon2 asked.

"Oh, no it's nothing like that!" Aamira said. "We still like you, don't worry. When you were upgraded you transformed the way a pokemon might if they evolved. A pokemon always gets a different name when it evolves. It's just a way to keep the species separate really."

"It is amazing though." Darach said. "It looks like that program might have given it some artificial emotions. They'll probably be unstable for a while until Porygon2 gets used to them though. He does seem to be a lot smarter now though. He hasn't used any articles yet though. Porygon2, try using phrases with articles in them."

"At the place, on the stairs, in the house…" Porygon said.

"No, that's not right, is it?" Aamira said. "Those are prepositions."

Porygon2 tilted his head. "Pre-po-si-tions?"

"That's more than what a ten year old human could probably do though." Darach said. "I think the Up-Grade is working just fine. There's no way to tell what all was in that program, so Porygon might have some kind of abilities that will show up at some point. Until then, we should just keep teaching him as we have been."

"Well you've been doing most of the teaching." Aamira said. "I'd like to do more, but training with Faris is important too."

Darach glanced down at his watch. "Speaking of which, isn't it time for you to go back?"

This was the first time that Aamira had paid much attention to the time since they had started. "Oh my gosh, I'm late! Faris is going to kill me!"

Aamira jumped up and ran out of the lab without another word. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even hear Porygon laughing behind her.

"What happened to you?" Lucario asked when Aamira showed up for dinner. She was covered in bruises and part of her bottom lip was cracked and bleeding.

"I don't want to talk about it…" She said.

"You were late again, weren't you?" Lucario asked. "Faris might be more passive about that kind of thing, but you know how Bisharp gets. You should really be more careful about that."

"Well it's not as if I could help it the first time! I mean that was literally the day we got back. We were all exhausted and Bisharp actually expected me to be there on time?"

Lucario shook his head and placed his palm against Aamira's forehead. Aamira glowed for a second from Lucario's attack and the next second all of the bruises were gone and her lip had been healed. "I'm done for today, bruises were all I had the energy left for. If you end up breaking your arm or something again, we'll have to track down that Audino that healed you the first time."

"Does that mean you mastered it?" Aamira asked.

Lucario nodded. "More or less. It should work more effectively if I actually had to heal someone in a bad situation. Hopefully."

"So the loner of the group found another way to contribute?" Quill asked as he came running up to them. "I don't mean anything by that really, just that you've never traveled with us this long before. And it's not like you being able to see aura really helps if the enemy is holding some of that Leuminite, right? I think healing is a fitting thing for you, with your silver aura and all."

"You seem really happy." Aamira said. "What have you been doing all day?"

"Playing with Blue mostly. He must get lonely being left behind all the time. Then Capricorn wanted to play so Blue went off to sleep in the silo."

"So you haven't been training at all?" Aamira asked.

"Well… no…" Quill admitted. "I guess I probably should have been. It just felt like we were getting a break from traveling for a while, so I was just kind of goofing off this whole time."

"It's probably fine." Aamira said. "I mean you're pretty strong anyway, so maybe you don't really need the training all that much. Lucario just learned a new move though and I could use all the training I can get. Don't worry about it too much."

Somehow that made Quill worry about it even more. After Aamira had left, Team Sleuth kind of hit a standstill. He wondered if all of the stuff that happened to him only happened because she was around, and then he realized that this was probably the case. She had fought Mismagius before meeting him, Mew had been after her specifically, and what they were doing now spoke for itself. With the standstill that the team had hit, he had too. It seemed like he hadn't gotten any stronger since Aamira left. Now Lucario even learned a new move and Aamira had some sort of amazing power from being part pokemon, or however that worked, that she kept forgetting about.

Quill decided that he would spend the night training. They might have been friends and allies, but he wasn't about to let Aamira and Quill pass him up. He had no idea what exactly he would focus on doing though and thought about it throughout dinner. He hardly paid attention to what he was eating and nearly picked up a chicken wing before Aamira managed to catch his eye.

Aamira woke up later that night and noticed Quill wasn't in the attic. Lucario told her that Quill had said he was going to do some training and she didn't think about it much more after that. She went over to the basin of water that was on a small table in the corner of the attic. Somehow she had managed to sneak it up there without anyone noticing.

She had never used such a small amount of water for this before, but there wasn't much of a choice unless she wanted to use Alomomola's pool. Aamira placed the tip of one of her fingers in the water and concentrated on emanating her aura through it. A light spread from the tip of Aamira's finger across the surface of the water and faded back to normal.

The tired looking cat pokemon came into view, rubbing her eyes. Mew's reflection was transparent and Aamira could see the bottom of the basin through it. It was weird since Aamira had always used deeper water and had never been able to see the bottom through the image before.

"What is it this time?" Mew asked.

"I need you to tell me about those white stones that you and Zoroark have been using." Aamira said.

"He's using them too?" Mew shouted, suddenly wide awake. "I can't believe he's doing this again. Every time I have an idea of how to gain an advantage over him, he ends up doing the same exact thing! How does he do it?"

"I know it would be a little hard to believe, but I'm thinking it's a coincidence." Aamira said. "Unless you think you have a spy."

"I don't tell anyone about my plans, aside from Hunter sometimes. Do you think that he would be a traitor? I doubt it. I still don't know what his deal is, but he seems trustworthy, right?"

Aamira had to agree that he did. Destiny had been the one who killed Lucario in Hunter's alternate future and Destiny had worked for Zoroark. He couldn't be a traitor. Aside from that, Aamira didn't know anyone else that Mew had ever talked to aside from Honchkrow who was now a statue.

"So what are these stones?" Lucario asked.

"They're the purest form of Leuminite used to strengthen pokemon, but it also makes them go mad. I've been trying to figure out a way to stop the adverse effects, but as far as I can tell, the size of the stone has to be proportionate to the power of the one carrying it. In other words, imagine me carrying around a stone the size of the Inverted Castle. It's more than inconvenient and the stones increase power by the same amount regardless of size. So just imagine how strong an army of pokemon carrying rocks like that the size of pebbles if those pebbles didn't make them go mad."

"It could be a huge advantage to whoever figures it out first." Aamira said. "Not to mention all of the chances of sabotage. If it's the stones themselves that have to be changed, then an enemy would only have to swap them out for fakes that would make them go mad and attack their allies."

"That would be a possibility too. They might end up being more trouble than they're worth, who knows? Maybe that was why he was so interested in Atra? There used to be rumors there of some white stones that would appear, but I haven't heard any rumors like that in a long time."

"Maybe that's where he got all of the Leuminite from?" Lucario said. "I thought it was supposed to be rare in this world, but he doesn't seem to be too worried about losing any."

"So what will you two do?" Mew asked. "We could be running out of time. I'm assuming you haven't found a way to turn back into a pokemon considering your appearance. If you can't turn back into a pokemon soon, you might have to fight him as a human."

Aamira had thought about this too, but she didn't really know what to do about it. "Maybe I'll do some more training before I go back to sleep. Quill's staying up to train too. Maybe then I'll think of something. What about you? Are you going to fight him?"

"Why do you think I'm so tired? I've been training just like you three. Hunter's going to help too. He's made it clear plenty of times that he's only doing it because you'll be fighting. He's still holding a bit of a grudge."

Lucario thought for a moment about whether the question he wanted to ask would be okay. If he was being truthful, he didn't really want to know the answer. "The three of us are going to be fighting him, plus the two of you? Is Zoroark really strong enough to need that much power to fight against him?"

"Maybe not." Mew answered. "He always has some tricks for getting himself out of a tight spot though. We shouldn't take chances. There's no telling what he'll do or what he's already done."

Lucario remembered back to when they had fought Mismagius. There were a lot of similarities between them and the current events. "Is this all just a game to him?"

Mew nodded solemnly. "I wouldn't put it past him. He likes playing his games."

Aamira couldn't keep the connection opened much longer than that and Mew really did seem tired. Ul hadn't been coming to tell them when Pam and the kids were asleep because he thought they needed more rest, so Lucario had to confirm that everyone was in their rooms before Aamira left. He offered to go train with her, but Aamira told him it would be better if he just got some sleep. He had used up too much of his aura practicing Heal Pulse that day. She had another reason too, and Aamira didn't really want him to see what she would be practicing.

When she got to one of the empty training rooms, she took out her wooden sword and faced one of the training dummies. 'I might now be able to do this through my own power, but isn't that part of the reason why I made that pact with Darkrai to begin with?'

As a human, it was harder for her to control her own aura, let alone the dark aura she got from Darkrai. It had been more than two years since she last used it in a fight. As she reached for it, she could feel Darkrai's excitement growing from his hiding place in her shadow. She glanced down at her shadow for a moment before looking back to the dummy and swinging at it.

Aside from wood hitting fabric, nothing happened. She felt it surfacing as if it were about to be released, but at the last second it failed. It was like one of those dreams she had had before where she was able to fly, but could barely get off of the ground. When she could get off of the ground, there was always a ceiling or something similar blocking her. She hated that feeling. Those dreams had become common back when she was still trapped with Zoroark.

It felt as though Darkrai was trying to advise her on what to do, but unlike in the dark Ebony Caverns, he just didn't have enough strength here to say anything. She kept trying with the same result every time. She knew that every time she had done it before was because she had gotten mad at someone, usually for hurting Quill. Unlike Zoroark and most other people, Aamira used her darkness to defend others instead of hurt them.

Zoroark would hurt Quill if he had the chance. Maybe not right away, but he would definitely threaten Quill if Aamira didn't do what he told her to. For this training, the dummy was Zoroark. Aamira could almost see that maniacal grin of his and those terrible eyes as she swung at the sack of hay. So why wasn't it working?

Aamira knew what he had done to Daisy and so many others, including herself. So why couldn't she get mad enough at him to trigger it? So many more people would be hurt if they couldn't stop him somehow. So why couldn't she make this work?

Aamira was starting to get desperate and resorted to just swinging wildly at the dummy. This didn't accomplish anything aside from making her tired and making her feel worse than she did before. No matter what she though of Zoroark having done to other people, it just wouldn't come to her. Forget about fighting Zoroark and beating him, at this rate Aamira wouldn't even be able to defend herself. How many more sleepless nights would she have to stare into that stupid mirror of his, with him saying the most terrible things when she's beyond exhaustion to keep her from falling asleep? What if the next time one of them lost their temper, Aamira ended up with more than just a couple of scars? What terrified her the most was the thought of what would happen if, and most likely when, she finally gave in. Maybe he had no use of her beyond finding that key.

'He can't do that! He wouldn't!' Aamira thought as she took a pause between swings. Of course he would though. To him Aamira was probably more trouble than she was worth after finding the key. The voice that had been nagging at the back of Aamira's mind for more than two years now resurfaced. 'I can't die. No matter what happens I can't die…'

Everything in Aamira's peripheral vision went dark. All she could see now was the dummy in front of her. The only things she was aware of now were the dummy in front of her and the movement of her arms as she swung at it again. The dull wooden sword cut the dummy right in half.

Aamira tightened her grip on the wooden sword, trying to hold onto something to bring herself back to her senses. She had finally managed to do it, but controlling it seemed harder than before and it seemed almost just as hard to get out of that state as it was to get into it.

Aamira clamped her eyes shut and fell to her knees, trying to bring back the senses of her surroundings. The feeling of the hard floor beneath her, the smell of dust and sweat that always dominated the training rooms, and the faint sound of people talking in the distance who would have no idea what was going on in the training room. Everything was starting to come back more clearly and when Aamira opened her eyes she could almost see clearly again.

She was exhausted, sore, and completely unaware of how long she had been training. That didn't explain why her face hurt so much though. She raised a hand to her face and found that it was wet. At first she assumed she was just sweaty from moving around so much, but then she realized that she had been crying. She had no idea when it had started, but had no doubt why it had happened. Her dark aura hadn't been triggered out of some strong desire to protect others; it had been triggered out of fear for herself.

"Aamira…?"

Aamira quickly wiped the tears off of her face, not really caring about being subtle about it, and turned around. Darach was standing in the doorway. She had no idea how long he had been standing there either.

Darach walked a little closer to her. "Are you okay? I heard some screaming from in here and thought that someone might have gotten hurt. You're not hurt are you?"

Aamira was about to say that she was okay when the tears started back up. Darach ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her without a second thought.

"I don't want to fight Zoroark!" Aamira blurted out before she could stop herself. "I don't understand why I'm always so scared. I was never like this before."

"It's okay to be scared." Darach said. "I think just about everyone here is. Of course none of us can imagine what it would be like to be in your situation, but you're not alone."

"I know I'm not! I'd be an idiot not to realize that. I must be the luckiest person in the world to have the friends I have, but it doesn't make this any easier."

Darach stood up and helped Aamira to her feet. "It's almost dawn. You should go back to bed. If you ever need anyone to talk to, I'll always be here to listen."

Aamira nodded and headed back towards the door that led to the basement. Something about this made Aamira feel strangely uneasy. When she got back to the main part of the house, she realized what it was. What had happened between her and Darach just then was exactly like what had happened between her and Lucario back in Atra. She was glad it was dark when she got back to the attic. She suspected that Quill and Lucario were still awake and she didn't want them to see her blushing. Darach was over a decade older than her, but that sort of thing didn't really matter in this world. He was from a noble family too.

'This is ridiculous.' Aamira thought as she laid back down in her bed. 'I know my emotions tend to go rampant when using my dark aura, so of course I would start thinking about this after something like that happened. That's probably why I started crying too. There aren't any real emotions involved here.' But was that the same for Darach? For some reason, that thought seemed even more embarrassing. No, she really was being ridiculous.

After Aamira's head finally cleared of the last affects from her dark aura, she glanced over at Quill. He didn't usually sleep in a different bed, but it looked like he had purposely fallen asleep in a different one from the one that Aamira had always used. It was dark and hard to see, but it looked like Quill might have been injured in his training. It couldn't have been anything too serious if he was able to sleep now.

Aamira turned over and stared towards the wall. 'Maybe someone to talk to is exactly what I need.' she thought as she started to drift off. 'Not like Quill and Lucario. I wouldn't want to worry them too much by dumping all of my thoughts on them. Maybe I'll go talk to Darach tomorrow after all.'

"Are you sure you're okay?" Quill asked by the time they were all awake the next day. Maybe since they were both focusing on training, that allowed them to resonate, but only Quill could feel Aamira's emotions since Aamira was too distracted at the time to pay attention.

"I'm sure; I just got a little emotional over something last night. It's no big deal."

"Well, alright." He still looked worried though. "So want to watch my battle with Bisharp? She agreed to battle me so I could try out my new move against a real opponent."

Quill refused to tell them what his new move was. He just said that he wanted them to see it for themselves first. They met with Bisharp and Faris out in the ranch where Capricorn and the Zebstrika and Blitzle were roaming. One of the Zebstrika that looked a little bigger than the others stopped what he was doing to watch their battle.

Quill decided that he would only use the new attack so he could really test it out and practice it a little more too. If it were a real battle, then just going off of type advantages beating Bisharp would be easy. They had no idea how difficult Quill was making this for himself though.

Immediately Bisharp dug the blades on her hands into the ground and pulled up a bunch of sharp edged rocks to use Stone Edge. Quill just barely managed to dodge and Bisharp used the time that Quill took to dodge to close in and use Poison Jab, which he also managed to dodge just barely.

"He seems to be focusing more on dodging than usual." Lucario realized. "Normally he's pretty nimble and he would do it anyway, but it's like he's going out of his way to do it. I'd think that if he had a powerful attack, he would just use it right at the start even if it meant getting hit a couple of times just to end the battle quickly."

The reason became clear a second later though. Quill managed to make a gap in the distance between himself and Bisharp. For a second he glowed with what they took to be a bright yellow light and then he charged at Bisharp. The attack landed before Bisharp could block and there was a loud noise like thunder that followed. Quill flinched as the sparks of electricity rebounded on him as the attack ended, but didn't seem too bothered by it.

"So that's Quill's new move." Faris said. "Wild Charge. It's a strong electric attack, but it hurts the pokemon using it too."

"That explains why he was dodging so much." Aamira said. "He could have ended up knocking himself out by accident. It looks like he's getting used to the recoil by now though since he had been training all night. It must still hurt a lot though."

Bisharp never managed to land an attack, while Quill's hit almost every time. Like most other attacks that caused damage to the one using it, it looked like it only rebounded when coming into contact with something. So as long as Quill didn't miss and run into a tree, he didn't have to worry about it.

By the end Quill looked exhausted and Bisharp could barely stand. They decided just to call it a draw there. It was obvious who would have won in a real battle, even though Bisharp insisted that she was letting him win since it was for practice.

"So how did you learn it?" Aamira asked while Lucario was healing him with Heal Pulse.

"I came out here last night and looked for a strong pokemon to train with and the obvious choice was one of the Zebstrika here. He said I'd probably be really good with one of the charging attack, Flame Charge or Wild Charge. At first he said that Flame Charge would be better since it would make me faster, but when we had a race to start training, I beat him easily without it. I decided to go with Wild Charge. It's more of a last resort thing, but it will help with fighting against water types that have always been a problem for me."

"Makes sense." Aamira was still a little unnerved around electric type attacks, but maybe Quill having one was what she needed to get over it for good.

"The only problem is that Eruption works best when I'm at full health and it's my best attack since I learned it from Entei. It was strong to begin with too, plus it's stronger for me since I'm a fire type, but it would still weaken it a lot if I used Wild Charge too much."

"So you have a fire attack that's stronger when you're healthy and an electric attack that does damage to you." Lucario said. "Even as attacks, fire and lighting don't seem to want to get along."

"Well it looks like you've got Heal Pulse down too." Aamira said, noting that all of Quill's injuries had been completely healed. Using her dark aura might have meant giving into her fear when using it against Zoroark, but she was still confident that she would be able to use it now when she needed to. The three of them had gotten a lot done on their time off.

"What's that light coming from your bag?" Faris asked.

Aamira looked down at her bag which was in fact glowing green and red from the inside. She reached into her bag and pulled out the two medallion fragments that were shining like the sun passing through a stained glass window.

"It's about time!" An agitated voice shouted into Aamira's head, nearly making her drop the medallion. "I have been trying to reach you for the last half hour."

"Are you Cobalion?" Judging by everyone else's confused looks, she guessed that only the person touching the medallion could hear him.

"No, I'm just some random person who picked up the medallion by chance and instantly knew how to use it. Yes this is Cobalion. Do you want to take my test or not."

"Yea, of course I do!" Out of the three of them, Aamira decided that she like Cobalion the least.

"Alright then. Do you have a map?" Aamira said that she did and got it out of her bag. "I'm in the far north in a place called Desolate Chasm. I daresay you won't need me to tell you my exact location."

After that the medallion stopped glowing. Aamira looked around the map and saw the place he must have been talking about. Up in the northern area of Dargan's known regions, there was a large chasm that took up most of the mountain range.

Before heading back to the house to start packing, Aamira stopped by the computer lab where Darach was talking with Porygon2 and was able to confirm that there were a lot of legends about that chasm and the crater that was at the end of it. It was where they had to go without a doubt.

"It looks like this will be more dangerous than the other places we've been to so far." Lucario said while looking at the map. As soon as Aamira figured out where they were going, they had hurried back to the house to pack up some supplies. Lucario had never unpacked anything so he was the only one not rushing to finish.

"It's going to be cold too. A lot colder than it was in Hearthlan." Aamira said. "I'll have to find something warmer to wear. I miss having fur.

"I'm guessing we'll be taking Capricorn again." Quill said. "Maybe you won't need it if you stay on his back the whole time."

"He'll probably get spooked by the dungeon again and not want to go in though. I might be able to buy something from some traders lingering in one of the cities, or I could just put on an act of being some homeless kid dying from the cold. I doubt they would believe it. Come to think of it, I'm going to stick out a lot there. Anyone we meet will probably wonder why someone as young as me, or as young as I look anyway, would be wandering around alone."

"We'll have to avoid meeting with anyone then." Lucario said.

They were in luck though. When Pam had once visited Dargan with her oldest son who had died years ago, he was around the same size Aamira was. They didn't really have a typical type of clothes that males or females would wear in that country, so it worked out well. While they had been getting ready, Ul had saddled up Capricorn for them.

As they headed down the slope towards the city, Aamira stopped for a second and looked back.

"What's the matter?" Quill asked.

Aamira shook her head and coaxed Capricorn to keep moving on. "It's probably nothing. I've just been on edge lately I get. I have that feeling that I get sometimes that we're not going to be back here again for a long time."

Quill was a little unsettled by this since any feelings Aamira usually got tended to be straight forward. They kept going on their way, enjoying the fact that no one looked twice at them while in the city and knowing that once they crossed the border into Dargan, they probably wouldn't be treated that warmly for a while.


	21. Chapter 21 The Hunter

Having been to Glacies before, Quill, Aamira, and Lucario all underestimated just how cold it could get. Even while on Capricorn's back, Aamira felt close to being frozen solid. She spent half of the time curled up in his mane trying to keep warm while Quill walked by Lucario with his fire flared up, trying to keep the both of them warm.

The snow was getting deeper and they were near their limits. It had been snowing for the last few hours and they could tell it was only going to get worse.

"I think eventually it should all turn to ice. We shouldn't have as much trouble walking then." Aamira shouted over the noise of the wind. Quill was the only one who was able to hear her over the wind, so he relayed the message to Lucario.

Aamira wished that all fires were like Capricorn's. She guessed this was what all fire felt like to Quill and other fire types; warm and bright but not able to cause a burn. Aamira wondered if Capricorn was ever so nervous around her that he would burn her by accident. It must have happened at some point unless he was trained not to do that before he was given to her. That was probably the case. She would have to remember to ask Faris later and to do that she'd have to not freeze to death first.

With the wind blowing the way it was and the blizzard that was starting up, Aamira hardly even noticed when Capricorn kept walking. If Lucario hadn't been keeping an eye out for potential ambushes by looking for their aura, he and Quill probably would have kept walking without even noticing.

He doubled back with Quill walking close behind him. "Is something wrong?"

Aamira looked up and finally realized that they weren't moving anymore. She patted Capricorn on the neck and tried to coax him to move forward, but he wouldn't budge. He wouldn't even blink.

"He looks scared." Quill said. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know." Aamira jumped down off of his back and tried to talk to him in a low soothing voice while rubbing his snout, but he kept staring at some fixed position off in the distance.

Lucario turned in the direction that Capricorn was facing. "I don't sense anything over there."

"I don't hear anything either." Quill said.

"Come on now, there's nothing to be scared of." Aamira started pulling on his reins, but he still refused to even lift a hoof.

To Lucario it felt like it had appeared out of nowhere. It wasn't even like a small fleck of energy that had just appeared; from his view it seemed as if a huge sun had just formed right in the middle of the tundra. Capricorn reared up and bolted back in the direction they had come from before Lucario could even react. Lucario dove towards Aamira and Quill and knocked them to the ground just as a white beam of light passed over them.

Quill got up and used Flamethrower in the direction that the attack had come from. The attacker, who was just barely visible through the thick snow, jumped out of the way. There was a sound something like cards shuffling followed by a soft click. They waited a while, but nothing happened.

"Move!" Lucario ran to Quill and pushed him out of the way just as a shimmering blue beam of light shot towards them from a different direction from the one the pokemon had jumped in. It moved so silently. Even without the wind, they probably wouldn't have heard it.

The shuffling sound came again, but this time instead of waiting, their attacker attacked again immediately after it was ready. Lucario was too far away this time to run to Aamira's rescue. A yellow beam of sparking electricity shot towards her. Aamira attempted to move out of the way, but to her it seemed like the attack had appeared out of nowhere and it was too big to dodge in time.

Aamira screamed as the attack just barely hit her and she fell to the ground into the deep cold snow. It hurt at first, but didn't do too much damage. Aamira tried to move, but she couldn't. Was she paralyzed? It was possible for a pokemon to paralyze a human like this, but if that beam had hit her the wrong way, it could be permanent.

Lucario had run back towards Aamira the second he sensed the attack coming, but wasn't fast enough to get her out of the way in time. Almost as soon as Aamira hit the ground, Lucario lifted her up, supported her the best he could, and ran as fast as he could. While carrying Aamira, Lucario wasn't able to look for signs of an attack. Quill was right behind him, looking for any sign of their attacker. A few times he heard the cards or whatever they were shuffling and he was able to keep track of where it was to some extent.

They kept running until they had crested the mountain they were on and managed to get to a lower valley. The snow wasn't as deep there and it wasn't snowing as hard. Quill hadn't heard the sound of their attacker for a while now. The two of them stopped running to give Lucario a chance to look around. He couldn't see their attacker as usual, but he managed to find a den where a few other pokemon were sleeping. It would be a good place to hide for a while.

The pokemon they intruded on weren't happy about sharing their territory though. Two of the biggest ones woke up, growling and baring their teeth, almost the instant they came in.

Aamira moved slightly while still being supported by Lucario. It looked like the paralysis was starting to wear off, but just barely. "Would you be kind enough to let us stay the night? Just one night. We'll be gone before you wake up in the morning and we'll never come back. We'll leave some berries here for you too."

The two pokemon growled, but didn't advance. They glanced at each other and then the larger of the two spoke. "One night. See to it you're gone before we wake."

With the two larger pokemon joining the others and going back so sleep, Quill, Lucario, and Aamira had the chance to rest for a few hours.

"How do you do that?" Quill asked. "You can always convince pokemon to do whatever you want them to."

"I can calm people down with my aura, but nothing as advanced as this." Lucario said.

"I don't make pokemon do what I want, I just negotiate. A human that can understand them isn't something very common, you know, so of course they'd be curious to hear what I have to say. I tried making a Weavile catch some fish for me once when I was staying in Hearthlan, but it got mad, took a swipe at me, and ran off. The thing is knowing how respective pokemon think and being able to offer them something they want or appealing to their better nature in some way. Like if I was in danger and I needed help, I could make someone rush to help me for no reward but just because it's the right thing to do. Of course in that case I would try to come up with a reward."

Quill nodded towards the pokemon sleeping at the back of the cave. "So what about those pokemon over there?"

"Beartic are common in these areas. Around this time of year there are always fights for territory between Beartic and other pokemon. There's less food too. Those two bigger ones were the Patriarchs most likely. They're the leaders. They protect and divide food among their groups and also order the others in the group in battles similar to wars between different groups. They're really important that way and it can be stressful at this time of year. When someone comes into their cave they would most likely think that they're either invaders or extra mouths to feed. All I did to convince them to let us stay was convince them that we're not invaders and offer to feed them instead. There's no guarantee it would have worked though. They're usually aggressive for another reason this time of year. You'll see if you look over there."

The Beartics' large bodies blocked anything that might be hiding behind them. Lucario tried to see the aura of whatever they were hiding and saw small flecks of light hidden behind the Beartic. "Eggs?"

Aamira tried to nod, but still couldn't move enough to make the motion at all noticeable. "Yea. This is their mating season. They have the timing down perfectly. Beartic have their eggs in this harsh time of year and by the spring when food becomes plentiful again, the eggs hatch. By the time the weather becomes harsh again, they're able to fend for themselves for the most part. After two or three years of age, they would normally leave the group. Females are usually accepted into other groups or will rove around looking for roving males from other groups to start their own family. Males either have to find a roving female to start a family, or have to fight the male Patriarch of another group. If the roving male wins, both Patriarchs are banished if they're not killed and the females will fight for the other Patriarch position. Sometimes both a male and female will challenge the Patriarchs and they'll take over together."

"With all of that fighting, they must not live long." Quill said.

"They're one of the more violent species of pokemon, but they just do what's necessary to live in a frozen world. If they traveled farther south, they would have more room to live and food would be more abundant, but their primary food source is fish and they catch them by freezing the water with their breath. Too far south and it would be too warm for their breath to reach farther down in the water. They're stuck here, so they fight. As far as I know, they're the only pokemon species that can get eggs without actually loving the ones they're with. I guess they just love power and little else matters. For that reason, only the Patriarchs of a group will ever have eggs."

"So if they want kids, they have to fight." Lucario said. "I kind of feel sorry for them."

"Again they just do what they have to. Welcome anything that's beneficial and discard anything that isn't. That's what makes them natural leaders. The leader of Dargan has a Beartic for a partner, in fact."

"But what if someone in their group was something considered not to be beneficial?" Quill asked.

"They'd usually be kicked out. They don't normally attack anyone from the same group as them unless challenging one of the Patriarchs, so they'd just be abandoned somewhere, even if it was just a Cubchoo. Actually that's what happened with the Elder of Dargan's Beartic. She was abandoned as a Cubchoo because she was weak and got sick too often for the group to take care of. It was either use all of the berries on her to try to make her stay healthy and have them all starve to death, or kick her out. The elder's parents rescued her after finding her when fishing and she lived with her partner ever since."

"They just do what they have to in order to survive." Lucario said. "I'm not sure if I could live by a law like that."

"I don't think anyone could. Beartic are pretty tough." Quill said. "So how are you doing? Can you move yet?"

Aamira tried to move her arm and managed to raise it a couple of inches off of the ground. "I still feel kind of numb, but I think I'll be okay after a few more hours."

"Get some sleep. We'll keep a look out for that pokemon that attacked us." Lucario said and then added in a whisper, "We'll keep an eye on the Beartic too just in case."

Aamira laughed. "I don't think that's really necessary." She closed her eyes anyway and was asleep within a few minutes.

There was silence for a while aside from the wind outside whistling through the valley. Quill couldn't hear the sound of that pokemon that was following them. Lucario couldn't see it anyway unless it was just about to attack, so he took some time to check the map. They had run off course, but they still managed to make some progress. If only they had kept going a little further. The next valley over was apparently filled with hot springs and was lower down. The snow probably didn't even reach the valley floor. There was a small village there too, but it was a large valley and they would have been able to avoid being seen if they had to. If that pokemon was still chasing them though, maybe this was for the best.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Quill asked.

Lucario looked away from the map and rolled it back up. "I thought you wanted to since you changed the subject so quickly. I guess we're finally getting in sync. There's something weird about that pokemon that's following us. I can't sense it, so it must be working with Zoroark."

"I thought the same thing, but I don't get how that's possible though." Quill said. "I mean, why here? Has it been following us from the start? Is it just a coincidence that we were here at the same time it was?"

"I don't know, but you can see there's definitely something strange about it. Its attacks look really strong. It went after you with what I think must have been a water type attack. I think it realized I could see its attack because it attacked Aamira once we were both separated from her. And that's another thing. It attacked her with an electric type attack."

"She's a lot better around electricity than she used to be, but I think it still scares her." Quill said. "But it is weird though. You'd think that the electricity would have caused at least a few burns, but she doesn't have a single scratch. It's like that was entirely meant to paralyze, right?"

"Which means it wasn't trying to hurt her, it was just trying to catch her. It didn't have any problem with attacking us either. It has to be Zoroark behind this. I don't think that it's here by coincidence though. It had to know we were here somehow. Some way of tracking us or some way of knowing where we were going."

"We've been traveling at night. It's been snowing really hard so it seemed safe, but maybe there was a break in the clouds that we didn't notice and Zoroark saw us. The pokemon that was chasing us was pretty fast and stealthy, so it could have caught up with us and followed us until finding a place for an ambush."

"Hmm…" Lucario closed his eyes and crossed his arms. Quill tried not to laugh. He had noticed Lucario do this a few times now, but it was still funny to him. It was the same thing that Aamira always did when thinking about something. Quill couldn't stay smiling though; whenever Aamira did this, it was usually because they were missing something.

"What's wrong?" Quill asked.

"Something just doesn't feel right. Capricorn was startled by the pokemon chasing us. It's like he could sense it or something even though I couldn't see it and you didn't hear it. Maybe Capricorn just has that kind of ability, I don't know, but if it was following us for a while, shouldn't Capricorn have been able to sense it before then? After reaching a certain point, Capricorn didn't want to move further. We weren't being followed; it was standing in front of us. It easily could have attacked us from behind and we would have been caught completely off guard. It had to have been there already when we arrived."

Quill could see Lucario's point and it did make sense, but there was just no way that the pokemon following them could know where they were going to go. Even if Zoroark had seen them, he couldn't have known where they were going. "It does seem weird, but we're not in a good situation here either. Maybe we're just overanalyzing it and trying to find something to blame it on. Maybe it didn't want to attack Aamira from behind because she was on Capricorn's back and it might have startled Capricorn. By circling around it was able to make Capricorn stop and gain an advantage."

"Maybe…" Lucario stretched and took a minute to look around to see if anyone else was in the area. Aside from the Beartic and their eggs, they were alone as far as he could tell. "We should get Aamira's opinion on this once she wakes up. I just didn't want to mention all of this before when she was awake or she wouldn't have been able to rest. Maybe you should take a rest too. I can watch things while you're asleep."

Quill shook his head. "You can't see that pokemon's aura, but I might be able to hear it if it makes that shuffling sound again. If it doesn't though you'll at least be able to see when it's about to attack. We both need to stay awake."

Quill was right, of course. They had to work together. He and Aamira both had the habit of trying to do everything on their own. Quill was the only one who would want to share someone else's burden rather than try to take it all on himself.

Lucario had finally gotten used to the aura in this world, so he didn't have any trouble staying awake. Quill, on the other hand, looked like he could topple over at any minute. Aamira woke up early in the morning. It was still dark out and the Beartic were still asleep. They decided it would be best to move on before they woke up. They each took a few berries from their bags and left them in the cave near the sleeping Beartic.

One of the smaller Beartic was just waking up and looked towards Aamira with one drowsy and only partially opened eye.

"We were just leaving." Aamira assured the Beartic. The Beartic noticed them placing berries on the ground and pretended to close its eye, but they could see that its eye was still opened partially to watch them just in case. Aamira got a short glimpse of the three eggs that a few of the Beartic were curled around to keep warm. She didn't dare get any closer, so they left after that. They had a feeling that the Beartic kept watching them until long after they had left the cave.

They headed towards the mountains again, planning to alter their course by going through the hot spring valley that Lucario had found on the map. There were several other pokemon scurrying about, taking advantage of the break in the weather. It looked like it would snow again though. They would have to hurry in order to get over the mountain before that happened.

"We'll just have to hope we don't run into any more Beartic." Aamira said. "We probably have the scent of those other ones on us after sleeping in their cave. The snow is fresh too. If we take a bad step, it could cause an avalanche."

Quill moved in front in order to test the ground since he was the smallest and the lightest of the three of them. Lucario walked behind Aamira in order to keep a look out for any potential threats. Aamira could tell that Quill was tired and realized that he hadn't gotten any sleep that night. She noticed Lucario stumble a few times too. He was probably suffering from a terrible headache from looking at auras for so long. Aamira herself was still stumbling slightly from the lingering effects of the paralysis. They were in bad shape. She ate a Cheri Berry hoping it would help a little, but it didn't do anything more than make her feel hungrier. They had run out of food a while ago and they had to save the berries for emergencies.

It was the middle of the day by the time they crested the mountain. They could see a little brown and green in the valley below. Aamira had heard about this valley when she was living in Dargan. The whole valley used to be a huge volcano that covered the entire world in ash and caused it to freeze over. After years of cold and darkness, normally the people here would have died out. There was one pokemon, however, that lived inside of the volcano itself. It flew to the village that at that point existed on the side of the mountain and used its light as an artificial sun to keep the people there alive. When the sky cleared, the pokemon retreated back to the volcano and wasn't seen again. A shrine was built to it and every year when the weather turned cold and harsh, the people would leave presents for it. It became a tradition to give gifts to one another at that time of year.

After the volcano went dormant, the original village was almost entirely destroyed in an avalanche. With the fertile soil left behind by the volcanic ash, the village was able to move into the valley and plant crops. The original shrine to the pokemon still stood in the mountains, but it was lost a long time ago.

Aamira didn't completely buy that legend. Somehow the village was unharmed by an exploding super volcano but it was destroyed in an avalanche? Considering what the conditions in this region were like, most buildings were built with a strong foundation made to withstand avalanches. Still there was always some truth behind these legends, and Dargan had a lot of legends.

Aamira was considering suggesting going into the village and getting something to eat. She was sure she could come up with a story to explain why someone her age who was obviously not a Dargonian would be wandering around in such a dangerous place. She could just say that she was orphaned and had always traveled with her partner and various other pokemon she came across from time to time.

As Aamira was daydreaming about all of the delicious food down at the bottom of the valley, Lucario ran towards them and pushed her and Quill to the ground just in time to avoid a red burning beam of light that shot over them. The aim was high though and too easy to avoid. They realized too late that the beam wasn't aimed at them but rather at the mountain side. The looser fresh snow on top of the ice suddenly gave way and the three of them, still hunched over after avoiding the attack, were instantly swept up in it.

The three of them held onto each other as they slid down the steep cliff side. By the time they finally stopped moving, they were covered by at least a few feet of snow. Quill blew out a little air to figure out which way was up. They had become so disoriented that they couldn't even keep track of that. After figuring out which way was up, Quill flared up his fire and shot a Flamethrower up through the snow. He did this a few times until the snow was melted enough for them to struggle their way out of the snow.

Aamira managed to get both of her arms free and managed to pull herself free from the snow. After that she managed to help Quill and Lucario get free too. All three of them were freezing now and it was only worse with the water covering them that Quill had created by melting the snow.

Before they had the chance to recover from the avalanche, another grayish beam of light shot towards them. A sharp pain and intense cold stabbed at Aamira's legs. She looked down to find that her legs from her calves down were entirely frozen. She struggled to get loose for a moment before realizing it was hopeless and turning as much as she could to see her attacker. A few yards away, there was a purple pokemon with glowing red eyes and a cannon on its back.

Quill moved to melt the ice around Aamira's legs, but that same shuffling sound came from their attacker that they had heard before. A series of disk-like objects shuffled through the cannon before a blue one locked in place. The pokemon attacked Quill with the same move it had used before and the water-type beam shot towards him.

Quill was hit by the beam and Lucario ran towards the pokemon to fight it up close in an attempt to distract it from Quill while he tried to free Aamira again. Aamira stood rooted to the spot, watching the sudden chaos that had erupted around her knowing that there was nothing else that she could do.

Each time Quill was close to being able to free Aamira, their attacker would manage to line himself up while fighting with Lucario and fire the beam again. It must have taken amazing concentration to be able to fight one enemy up close while simultaneously firing the cannon at another.

The pokemon's arms and legs suddenly folded up and it shot into the air. It came swooping back down, knocking into both Lucario and Quill at the same time. Aamira was just barely able to lean over far enough to avoid being hit when it attacked Quill.

"Don't worry about me!" she shouted to Quill. "Just help Lucario knock it out and save me later."

Quill looked a little conflicted, but he nodded and jumped into the battle. Quill attacked it with Eruption. The attack did some serious damage and left it with a burn, but that seemed to just make it madder. It attacked with its cannon, which was still set to the water type attack. Quill tried to attack with Eruption again, but the attack was getting weaker with all of the damage he was taking and their enemy was able to dodge it easily.

Lucario tried to distract it with Aura Sphere, which did do a lot of damage for a while, but the pokemon they were fighting hardly seemed phase. It didn't even flinch from the burn caused by Quill's Eruption. Wild flames surrounded the pokemon and it ran at Lucario with blinding speed. It managed to attack him several times and while doing so switched to a yellow disk. After finally ending the attack, it fired its cannon at Lucario. The electric type attack shot towards Lucario, but Quill managed to knock the pokemon out of the way by digging up from underneath it and throwing off its aim.

"What's it doing?" Quill said.

"Just a wild guess, but I'm assuming catching Lucario would be considered something like extra credit. It probably thought that actually beating both of you would be too much trouble." Aamira said.

Lucario attacked it with Dragon Pulse and Quill combined it with his Flamethrower. The attack hit the pokemon, but even though it did a lot of damage, it didn't flinch and its attacks never got any weaker. No matter what they did, it never slowed down while the two of them were getting worn out from the fight. It attacked both of them with Tri-Attack, which left Quill paralyzed and Lucario burned. It took advantage of Quill's momentary immobility and attacked it with the water-type beam from its cannon.

Quill closed his eyes, ready for the attack to hit, unable to move any more than that. Lucario dove in front of Quill and blocked the attack. Fire surrounded their attacker and it prepared to charge at Lucario. Lucario didn't have much time, but he could only see one way to beat it. He placed his paws against Quill and used Heal Pulse. Just before their enemy's attack landed, Quill jumped out of the way and burrowed under ground. Lucario was hit by the fire type attack, which, combined with his burn, was enough to knock him out.

Quill came up underneath their enemy and immediately followed up with Eruption. Thanks to Lucario's last second Heal Pulse, Eruption did enough damage to make their enemy barely able to stand. How it was still able to keep going, Quill didn't know. Any other pokemon would have at least slowed down from exhaustion or cringed from the pain at least once. This metallic terror never even flinched.

Before Quill could get another attack in, the pokemon walked over to Aamira and put one of its claws up against her neck. Quill immediately extinguished his flame, not wanting to provoke it further. He was surprised though to hear Aamira actually laugh.

"You're getting desperate aren't you?" She reached up and grabbed the pokemon's arm, forcing it away from her. "You're supposed to catch me, not hurt me."

The pokemon stared at Aamira as if trying to tell her something. Aamira stared back into its eyes. For a moment, she thought that she felt some sort of connection with this pokemon. There was a connection, but even though it surprised her at first, she realized after a moment that it wasn't the kind that she had been hoping for. She would gladly accept even this violent hunter as her partner, but this was something else.

While Aamira was holding onto the pokemon, Quill used Flamethrower one last time and finally knocked it out. He ran over to Aamira and slowly melted the ice around her legs, being careful not to burn her by accident.

"So what's with this thing?" Quill said while taking a closer looked at the defeated pokemon. "It looks like it's wearing some sort of armor or something."

"It looks more technological to me." Aamira got closer to the pokemon and found some sort of panel on the cannon. It was almost seamless and would have been impossible to find if not for the time she had spent living in Sylva where doors to Treehouses were hidden the same way and if she hadn't known anything about Zoroark's technology.

She pried it open with some slight difficulty and found some sort of computer interface inside it. She tried hacking into it to figure out what this pokemon was and if it was, in fact, Zoroark who sent it. She wasn't Eevee or Darach though; her knowledge as far as computers went was only minimal. The coding for Porygon's Up-Grade and for Porygon himself had all been taken care of by Eevee and Darach while she just basically watched and tried to learn what she could.

By the time Aamira managed to get in, Lucario had regained consciousness. While Aamira had tried to hack into the computer, Quill had been busy healing his and Lucario's wounds.

"I don't believe this!" Aamira shouted, making Lucario who wasn't fully awake yet, nearly jump to his feet.

"What is it?" Quill asked.

Aamira started typing frantically, hoping that somehow she was wrong about this, but that didn't seem to be the case. "This pokemon's name is Genesect. It has some biological and technological components to it. The structure of its DNA is badly broken up, so combining it with a machine was the only way to keep it alive. It must be some kind of ancient pokemon for its DNA structure to be this badly damaged. It must have been the result of a cloning experiment of a long dead pokemon."

"So what's the bad part that you can't believe?" Lucario looked over Aamira's shoulder, but he didn't understand most of what he was looking at. He didn't think Aamira understood it much better either.

"I'm guessing it was built as a hunter even back then, and a really skilled one from what I can tell, but this cannon is something new. Zoroark had this added to make him an even more precise hunter. The disks stored in it let it change the type of its attack, Techno Blast."

"I still don't really see what's so bad about that." Quill said. "I mean, as far as Zoroark goes, this seems pretty tame to me."

"Well, a few years ago there was some research done on a way to alter weather. It worked to some extent, but was discontinued because it made the pokemon rampage in the area it was being tested on. The scientists found out that the brain might actually work on the same frequency as weather. I don't really understand how that's possible, but that made a lot of people think that mind control might be possible. That's basically what this is. Genesect still has a brain like ours, but this cannon on its back not only acts as a weapon but can also be used to control it. This might actually be how Zoroark altered Capricorn and Blue's minds."

Lucario shook with anger, barely able to control himself at the thought of something like this. "How can he do something like that? To just alter the mind of a fellow pokemon? Genesect still has a conscious doesn't it? But it can't do anything about it."

"I can't imagine what it must be like to be able to think and see for myself and still have to follow the orders I was programmed for." Quill said. "Maybe Genesect never had the chance to learn to care. Maybe it thinks that's normal."

"Maybe, but I think that Genesect didn't want to fight like this. It could probably still feel the pain from all of the attacks it took, but the programming made it keep fighting anyway. It was practically being tortured in that battle." Aamira was thinking something else too, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to mention it. "I guess it's kind of the same with me though. Zoroark messed with my DNA somehow to try to make me obedient. I think he's had a lot of trouble with that in the past. Still I think that might have something to do with my reluctance to fight him. I don't know how to describe it. Just the thought seems somehow unnatural to me. So I guess Genesect and I are kind of alike. When we looked into each others eyes before, it was almost like we could understand what we were going through."

"That's kind of creepy." Quill admitted. "But it's cool at the same time. It's like he's your brother or something. I wouldn't mind having another brother. Can you maybe disable the cannon or something? Or do something to help him at least?"

Aamira typed on the screen for a moment, hoping to figure something out, but all of this was really beyond her. She would need either Darach or Eevee to do this for her. "I don't know how to do that or if it's even possible. Well I guess it would have to be possible somehow, I just don't know how that would be."

Genesect's foot twitched slightly as it started to regain consciousness. Aamira thought that she would at least have time to close the cover on the cannon before it woke up completely, but out of nowhere Genesect was fully awake and started to thrash around wildly.

Aamira wrapped her arms around it while trying to hold it still and keep the cannon pointed away from everyone at the same time. Without even aiming, Genesect started firing the cannon off wildly in random directions. Lucario and Quill jumped in and tried to hold Genesect still while Aamira went back to typing on the screen. There had to be something there to calm it down.

Finally she found something that looked like some sort of shut down code. She didn't know for sure what it was, but they couldn't hold Genesect down for much longer. They wouldn't be able to withstand a second battle with a pokemon that never tired. She activated the code just as Genesect was about to fire its cannon again and it suddenly went still. The cannon's power faded and Genesect's arms slumped to its sides.

Quill and Lucario placed Genesect in a sitting position similar to the one it was in before. Aamira sat in the snow with her hands on her knees, trying to stop the shaking. That was just a little too much for her. It felt like she had been trying to disarm a time bomb.

"Maybe you should wait until we get back to Darach to turn it back on." Quill was shaking and out of breath just like Aamira was.

"Can you still look on that computer thing when Genesect's like this?" Lucario asked. "I was hoping you'd be able to find something on why it was here of all places."

"Now that you mention it, it does seem kind of strange. I'll try it."

Aamira sat back up and started typing on the screen again. At least they thought that's what she was doing at first. "It's not responding. It's like all of the data's been wiped out. What's going on? The power's draining!" Suddenly panic stricken she started tapping on the screen frantically, but nothing she was doing was working.

The three of them watched as the screen went completely dark. Aamira kept trying to type on it, but it was useless. She sat back in the snow, shaking worse than before.

"What happened…?" Quill asked, although he was almost too scared to.

"I found some kind of code. I thought it was to shut it down, but I think it was something else. Some kind of termination code. Darach found something like that in Porygon's coding too. He said it was to erase important data to prevent an enemy from getting it. In Porygon's case, it would erase him completely, as if he never existed."

The three of them were quiet for a moment before Lucario finally managed to speak up. "You said that Genesect had something biologic too though. He wasn't entirely made from some program, right? He still had a brain of his own and organs and everything, right? So that code couldn't have…"

Aamira shook her head, trying and failing to keep tears out of her eyes. "His genetic code was too badly damaged. Zoroark probably couldn't find a better sample to use. I don't think he could survive without the technological part."

Aamira couldn't believe what she had just done. Whether with a sword or the press of a button, this wasn't something that she ever wanted to happen. While before this pokemon had been trying to capture her and hurt her friends, it wasn't his fault for what had happened. She hardly knew a thing about Genesect and somehow it felt as though Aamira had killed a part of herself along with him. She thought back to the Beartic who did whatever they needed to in order to survive. Hadn't Aamira done the same thing? So why was it still so difficult to accept this?


	22. Chapter 22 Desolate Chasm

Lucario and Quill couldn't think of what to say in order to get Aamira to cheer up. What happened wasn't really her fault. She must have realized that, but she wasn't going to bounce back from this too quickly.

"Do you want to just go home?" Quill asked.

Aamira shook her head and stood up. "No, we can't turn back. The whole reason we ran into Genesect was because we were here looking for Cobalion. I don't want this to have happened for no reason."

Lucario stared at Genesect who was still sitting in the same position that he had been in after being knocked out. He had been a strong opponent. This shouldn't have happened. "There's really nothing we can do?"

Aamira clenched her fists. This was all because of Zoroark. Zoroark had sent Genesect after them. Maybe there was a way to save Genesect though and that way would only be possible because of Zoroark.

"Zoroark probably has a backup of Genesect's memory somewhere. It won't really be the same Genesect though, just a copy with a memory similar to his. He won't remember meeting us at all." Aamira said.

"That might be a good thing though." Quill said. "He was sent to attack us and now he won't remember having done that. Maybe he won't even remember getting the order to go after us."

"It still doesn't seem right though." Lucario said. "But Genesect does still have a biological brain. Maybe he will remember us? Or if he doesn't right away, he will eventually."

"Possibly." Aamira lifted Genesect over her shoulder. He was a lot heavier than she would have thought. Lucario did have a good point, but Aamira still felt like she had killed him. There might not even be a backup, and if there was, would it be possible for her to install it? "This still shouldn't have happened. Help me find a place to hide him. I don't think any Beartic or anything else would eat a pokemon that's mostly metal, but I don't want anyone else to find him."

They found a cave nearby that was hidden by ice and snow. It was deeper in the mountains so the snow most likely wouldn't melt, giving away the entrance of the cave. They collapsed some of the snow above it to try to hide it further. Genesect didn't have much of a scent, so hopefully nothing would go digging around the cave.

Aamira made a promise to both herself and Genesect that she would be back. She didn't know when it would be, but she would definitely come back for him. There had to be a backup of his memory somewhere. Lucario was right, Genesect would remember them. It might take some time, but he would definitely remember them eventually. When she came back, neither of them would have any orders to follow. They would be able to do whatever they wanted without worrying about Zoroark.

"We should get going before something else follows us." Lucario said, leading the way into the valley.

All three of them were exhausted and cold after that battle. Aamira's legs were numb from being encased in ice. They found one of the many hot springs that dotted the valley and took a few minutes to rest. Aamira soaked her legs in the water while Lucario and Quill sat nearby. They didn't want to get too wet since they had no way to dry off. The second they left the water, they would freeze and end up even colder than before.

"You'll want to be careful warming up too quickly like that." A head covered in blue fur poked out of the water and looked at Aamira."

"Oh would that be bad?" Aamira asked. "I'm not really from around here and I've never come this far north."

"Take your feet out of the water and try walking." The blue pokemon said to her.

Aamira did as the pokemon said. She tried to pull her boots back on, but found that her legs hurt too much to pull them over her feet. "Why does it hurt?"

The blue pokemon came further out of the water and shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just saw some humans rubbing themselves with towels to warm up before getting into the water near the village. There was a traveler like you who tried to jump right in and he was in too much pain to move afterwards. They had to call a couple of doctors to carry him. It shouldn't be as bad with you though since you weren't in as long."

"Thanks for warning me." Aamira stretched out on the warm rocks around the hot spring. She was still cold and she had to turn over every now and then to make sure she wasn't burning on one side and freezing on the other. "So what are you doing this far north? Don't Simipour usually live in the islands far to the south?"

"My partner died a few years ago. It was a nice natural death and he had no regrets, but I think it feels the same for us either way. I couldn't stand living alone where he used to live and I didn't have any other family, so I decided to travel. It's really nice here for me actually. I store water in my fur, so if I absorb the water from the springs here, I can travel as far as I want without getting cold until the water runs out. I think I might stay here, but I'm not sure."

"You might be able to get a job in the village." Aamira suggested. "I'm sure they would be glad to have a rare pokemon as their mascot. It would bring more tourists to their hot springs."

"I don't think so…" Simipour waved her tail around in the water. "They get plenty of business and they wouldn't have anything that I would want in return. I'd end up more like a pet than anything. Disgraceful…"

Lucario was listening, although the heat from the rocks had almost put him to sleep. He remembered what Aamira said about how pokemon didn't like living among humans unless they had to. "Why don't pokemon like human civilization?"

Simipour looked at Lucario confused. "Ah, you were probably raised weird. Raised by humans or something I'd guess. It's just not natural. Humans have their thing and we have ours."

"There has to be something more to it than that." Quill said. "I mean, I don't like that they raise animals for food or that they eat meat at all, but other than that I don't see what the big deal is."

"Humans don't need to prepare so they're okay living the way they do." Simipour replied. Quill and Lucario stared at her in a way that asked for more information, but Simipour glanced in Aamira's direction and refused to speak. Until this subject had come up, Simipour seemed to completely trust Aamira.

"It's a pretty well guarded secret." Aamira explained to Quill and Lucario. "I told you how pokemon would refuse to tell me, remember? A pokemon that was raised wild wouldn't even tell their human partner, so no humans know why pokemon don't like it."

"They don't know anything?" Lucario asked. "How could such a large group of people keep a secret from another large group of people for so long?"

"I don't know." Aamira admitted. "Some people thought it was because technology polluted the air, so there were limitations placed for what technology could exist where. If you think about it, pokemon are more in tune with nature, so if they were poisoned and died from pollution, then their partner would die too. We didn't really have a choice when it came to limiting technology. Even so, most pokemon stay away from humans if they can help it, so that's not what it is."

"Maybe you'll find out someday!" Simipour said. "Maybe you won't like when it happens, or maybe you will. Not talking about this to humans is the only rule pokemon live by, and the role humans have in it isn't very clear either so there's never been a reason to. I really wanted to tell my partner but I wasn't allowed, so I'm not telling any other human either."

"You just made it seem even more mysterious!" Aamira said. "I've never really been bothered by it before, but I really want to know now."

Simipour stretched and jumped out of the water. "Well I'll leave you alone so you won't have to think about it too much. I was just about to leave anyway when you showed up."

After a few more hours, the three of them got moving too. In this valley, there was just a light dusting of snow and they could still see some of the brown grass underneath. It had been a nice change of pace and they weren't looking forward to going back into the snowy mountains. The crater was only a few mountains over and the snow had stopped, but the walk was still dangerous.

The mountains ahead were too high to see over, but according to their map their destination was just on the other side of them. They found what looked like a stable path up the side of one of the mountains, but there weren't any lower areas that looked stable enough to walk on. They would have to go up all the way and crest the peak to get to the other side.

When they got to the peak of the mountain, their jaws dropped at the same time. They had never seen anything like it before. A huge scar cut through the earth as if it had been tunneled through by a few thousand monstrously-sized Dugtrio. In places, mountains had their sides carved out if they hadn't been leveled completely, creating some treacherous overhangs. Aamira remembered a terrifying legend that she had once heard. Great jaws of ice that lay sleeping in the far north, wide and gaping ready to swallow anyone, whether animal, human, or pokemon. These jaws were lined with teeth of ice which no living being had ever passed and escaped alive. Staring at this scar, Aamira could see why it would be seen as a set of icy jaws, and they were heading straight to the throat.

"This was caused by a meteor, wasn't it?" Quill asked.

Aamira nodded. "This place makes my skin crawl. Let's hurry up and get through here."

Aamira hurried off ahead, leaving Quill and Lucario to follow behind her.

"Do you feel anything?" Quill asked.

"No." Lucario replied.

"Me neither, but it looks like Aamira does. That's kind of strange. She hasn't felt much of anything from the last two places, but now she's the only one who can feel it."

"Well it is her test, after all."

They followed Aamira at a distance. She still seemed traumatized from what had happened earlier that day, but she was hiding it well. Would she be able to pass the test in her condition though?

At the bottom of the scar, it became easier to walk on the nearly level ground. They were so far below the mountains now that no snow was present, but it seemed even colder. Everything was deathly still and deathly quiet. Lucario tried to look at their surroundings with his aura, but there was almost no aura around to see. It really had been an injury dealt to the world itself and it had never healed completely.

Finally, they entered the crater. Somewhere in here was where Cobalion was, waiting for Aamira. Even in the crater, when they looked up it was as if the mountains were bearing down on them. When they walked, it looked like the mountains were getting closer as if the jaws were slowly shutting on them.

At the very bottom of the crater, they found something that looked like a metal archway that led down into a large chasm. The wind howled around it and Aamira felt as if it was trying to drag in her soul. At least, it was a similar feeling to how she felt before Lucario returned her soul to her. She remembered the lake that she had been trapped in. For the longest time, there had been absolutely nothing anywhere around her. She could almost see her other personality standing at the chasm's entrance ready to send her back to that world of absolute nothingness.

Aamira shuddered and she couldn't hide it from Quill or Lucario.

"Don't worry; we'll stay with you at least until the mid-boss like we've been doing." Quill said.

Aamira looked back at the entrance of the dungeon. Part of her wanted to get away from it as quickly as possible while another part seemed to coax her through. She looked back at her friends who were both still injured from their battle. "No, you two should wait out here. I want to do this last one on my own."

"Do you think you'll be able to?" Lucario asked.

"I'll be fine." Aamira took a few steps towards the entrance, but hesitated. The stories she heard about the jaws of ice that no one had ever escaped from came back to her. She looked at the sky. It was just getting dark. "The moon will be rising soon. If I'm not back by morning, come looking for me."

Both Quill and Lucario were hesitant to let her go alone, but they knew there was no stopping her. This was Aamira; she would be fine. If anything did happen, surely Cobalion wouldn't let anything too serious happen to her inside of his territory. At least, they hoped not.

Aamira walked into the entrance, stumbling a little as she did. Her legs felt a little shaky, but she was able to convince herself it was just the uneven footing on the ground that had caused it.

She would have preferred it if, like the other two dungeons, this one was completely empty of pokemon, aside from the few in Terrakion's dungeon who had wandered in by accident and had become disoriented and unable to escape. That would have been preferable to the pokemon in this dungeon. The pokemon that made up this dungeon were the most terrifying ones that Aamira had ever seen, because the pokemon that made up this dungeon were all skeletons that laid on the floor where they had fallen. There were no teeth marks in the bones from something that had eaten them and they hadn't been disturbed at all. It was as if they had simply fallen and never stood up again.

The first one Aamira found, she had mistaken for a chunk of rock. There had been no others around and it seemed almost out of place. The numbers gradually grew as she proceeded though. Soon she started finding them in groups of two or three and a part of her that wasn't entirely aware of where she was anymore wondered if they had been Investigation Team members who had gone in here to rescue others, unaware that they had already fallen somewhere in the dungeon's depths.

She started shivering in spite of her thick coat which had served her well to this point, but a cold sweat started to form on her face. It must have been all of the skeletons. Seeing this was starting to make her feel sick. Every now and then she would see a little animal's skeleton and wonder how it was able to get this far in. She thought she found a few human ones too, but didn't look very closely at any of them to find out.

She realized though that she wasn't that far in yet herself. She hadn't seen any sign of the mid boss that was supposed to be guarding the dungeon, so she couldn't even be halfway through. How big was this place? It seemed to go on for miles. And what was with that metal archway over the entrance anyway? She hadn't given it that much thought before, but now her mind was starting to wander. It had been so out of place in the barren chasm.

Walking was starting to get a lot harder. 'Just a few more steps.' She kept telling herself, but the end wasn't anywhere in sight. Her legs weren't frozen like they had been when Genesect had attacked them, but it was starting to feel like it. It was becoming harder to breathe, almost like the air had suddenly become too thick to get into her lungs. No, that wasn't right; it was more like there wasn't any air at all. Everything she saw was solid ice, but she could tell that her vision was starting to blur.

'What's wrong with me?' Aamira thought as she struggled to keep moving. 'It's like I've lost all of my energy.'

Suddenly panic stricken, she realized that was exactly what was happening. Somehow, this place was draining her energy. She couldn't turn back though. There was a lot at stake here. Surely if she got into any real trouble, Cobalion would rescue her. Probably. What if this wasn't the right place though? Cobalion said that she would be able to figure it out and Darach even agreed it was probably here, but maybe they were wrong and this wasn't even the right dungeon.

She became aware of a deep rumbling noise. 'That must be the mid boss.' She didn't even have the strength to think it with actual words, but that was close to how her emotions had put it for her. She looked up and was surprised to see that she was standing at the edge of a cliff. Down below her the chasm continued, but all of her instincts were suddenly shouting at her to turn back and get away from there as quick as possible. It wasn't the thought of the sudden drop about a thousand feet down below the earths surface, it was something else; the source of the rumbling noise.

There was a breeze going through the cave in time with the rumbling that she figured out was actually breathing. Whatever was causing it was something huge. She just had to know what it was. She cautiously leaned over the side of the cliff and looked down into the chasm. Somewhere at the bottom, there was a huge mass rising and falling with its breathing. The chasm was filled with a cold haze and Aamira's vision was still blurring worse than ever. So she couldn't even make out the figure of the creature below her.

This seemed familiar somehow. What other time was she standing on the edge of a precarious cliff looking down at an obscured monster? It was in her own mind, wasn't it? What if this thing below her was the real version of the thing that had manifested in her mind? She had to get out of here somehow, but she couldn't look away from the thing at the bottom of the chasm.

Two piercing yellow lights shone though the haze and up at Aamira. It had to be the creature's eyes. The second Aamira made eye contact with it, she felt as if a spear made of ice had been thrown through her stomach. Her legs finally gave out. She didn't remember it happening, just that the next second she was lying face down on the icy floor. She remembered the feeling of her energy draining when she fixed the Looking Glass all those years ago. There was hardly any energy left now. Maybe she would just disappear like last time. She wouldn't go to the Other world like last time though. Her energy that had been draining since she set foot in this cave wasn't just vanishing; it was being swallowed by that thing at the bottom of the chasm.

Her vision slowly faded and she lost any awareness that she had of being on the ground. There was a loud roar from the thing below her, but she only heard a deep, muffled voice. Some of the feeling had come back, and she felt something slide underneath her and lift her up. Maybe the monster had come up to get her. That had to be it, it was moving her towards the chasm and would soon drag her to the bottom. Maybe her senses were too confused to tell, but it felt like she was going up instead of being dragged down.

Aamira wasn't sure how long she had blacked out for, but when she finally became aware of her surroundings again, she could feel the sun on her face. She was pretty sure that if she were at the bottom of the chasm, she wouldn't be able to feel the sun. Something else was weird too. Someone was running and carrying her on their back.

She just barely managed to move her head, but all she could see of her rescuer was the blue color. "Lucario…?"

The pokemon, while still running, turned to look at her. Things were starting to come into focus now. It wasn't Lucario and whoever it was seemed less than happy. Aamira decided it would probably be best that she didn't move too much so it wouldn't have an excuse to drop her. They stopped inside of a cave on one of the mountains facing the chasm. Aamira could still feel her energy being drawn towards it, but it wasn't nearly as strong as before. It was so weak now that she could feel some of her energy starting to return. She managed to climb off of the pokemon's back. She could see and hear things and think normally again. This pokemon must be Cobalion.

"You mistook me for a friend of yours, didn't you?" Cobalion still wasn't smiling. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with Aamira and he just never did.

"Where are they?" Aamira asked. "I was supposed to meet them by morning."

"They're safe. They probably would have been fine if they had gone with you. The dragon sleeping in the depths of the earth lives by eating the energy of living things, but it can only eat energy similar to the Dragon Force. Your friends weren't born in this world, like myself, so they weren't effected."

"It's sleeping? But I thought I saw its eyes."

Cobalion nodded. "You did. It's waking up slowly. It's like a hibernating Beartic, waking up periodically near the end of the winter. That dragon has been sleeping for thousands of years. Only a few years ago, there was an event here in Dargan that triggered its awakening."

"I thought that Dargonians practically worshipped dragon types though. Is that really the vicious man-eating monster from their legends?"

"There are other dragons aside from that one, as you know. We shouldn't be concerning ourselves with it though since it won't be waking up for some time still. I shouldn't have led you to that place. I didn't think that it would want you dead so badly. I only wanted to test how far you were willing to go."

For some reason this sent chills up Aamira's spine. It wasn't so much that some ancient monster wanted her dead, it was more of how calm Cobalion was about it. She had nearly died there, hadn't she? Cobalion walked deeper into the cave and, after hesitating for a moment, Aamira followed him.

"So do I get the last piece of the medallion now or is there something else I have to do?" Aamira asked.

"I don't give my medallion to humans anymore, but Terrakion told me you're a special case. If you can prove you do have a strong, resolute spirit, you should turn into a pokemon, am I right? The fact that you haven't turned into a pokemon yet proves that you don't have that resolution."

Cobalion's words stung more than Aamira would have expected. "I'm really trying. I just need some help. What am I doing wrong?"

"You made it to the depths of the chasm. Not many people would have gone as far as you did. Why did you keep going? Surely you could tell that you were dying the second you walked in."

"Because I had to. If there's something that has to be done at any cost, I'm not afraid to die for it."

Cobalion glanced back at her and kept walking. "Reckless thinking. I'd say you're more resolute than most other humans at least. What was it you said? Something about doing what needs to be done at 'any' cost, right? There are three types of people, as far as I'm concerned: those who would let their comrades die to save themselves, those who would die to save their comrades, and those who would do whatever they needed to do given the situation. I want to know, if the lives of hundreds of people were at stake and you had to make the choice, which would you choose? The lives of hundreds or the lives of your two friends?"

For a minute Aamira thought that Cobalion was actually threatening Quill and Lucario, but he had said that they were safe. This really was just a question. It was impossible to tell with Cobalion though.

Setting her suspicions aside, did he really expect her to answer this question? How would she ever be able to choose between saving her friends and saving hundreds of other lives? Logically, of course she would choose the lives of hundreds over her friends, but it wasn't that easy.

"I couldn't choose between them." Aamira finally said.

Cobalion kept walking, not giving away anything that he was thinking before speaking again. "Then your friends and everyone else would die since you couldn't choose who to save. You have to choose someone. Who would it be?"

"If I have to choose, I'd choose both."

Cobalion stopped walking and turned to look at her. "You can't choose both. I'm trying to be serious about this. You have to choose one or the other or both groups will die."

"There's no way I could choose just one. That would be like killing one group myself. I could never do something like that. I'd find a way to save both groups."

"I don't think you understand this." Cobalion was starting to get frustrated, but he was trying to hide it. "There is no way to save both. Since no way exists, you can't find a way to save both. You can only pick one!"

"If I can't find a way then I'll figure out how to make a way!"

The two of them stared at each other for a minute, neither daring to break eye contact which they would have considered to be a loss for either one of them. Finally Cobalion looked away and continued the walk through the cave.

"I thought that Aura Readers were supposed to be good thinkers." There was still a hint of agitation in his voice. "Your thinking is so flawed, but your conviction still stands. I don't like it but I have to pass you. Normally whichever you chose, as long as you could stand by your decision, I would pass you. I designed this test so that humans, who are indecisive by nature, wouldn't be able to pass. Not only did you stick with your decision though, you made one that I wasn't even allowing. Admirable, as idiotic as it sounded."

"Why do you hate humans so much?" Aamira asked.

"A long time ago, us three gave similar tests to a certain human. We had given these tests many times before, but he was the first to pass them. The three of us became attached to him for his resolute heart. There was so much he would do as the first true human king. He took the throne and we became his knights. He had two sons years later and we were just as devoted to them. However, I was always the most loyal to the king while Terrakion and Virizion chose their favorites from his sons. The king was worried about this. Since they were born as twins, there was no way to choose which one would be the next king. Believe it or not, there hasn't been a single set of twins in the king's lineage since these two were born. Both were great children and there was no reason to choose anyone else. He told me on his deathbed to choose the child who passed our test and showed the greater resolution. Then the unthinkable happened."

"They both passed." Aamira said.

Cobalion nodded. "I couldn't choose between them. They would lead the country in opposite directions, but both would make it into something great just as their father had. I stayed neutral while Terrakion and Virizion took sides. The two brothers decided to rule together, but it wouldn't work out. The two of them were as different as night and day. A war eventually came about from it. Terrakion and Virizion became generals in their armies while I fled like a coward thinking there was no hope of resolving it. I won't say what made me go back, but I did return. Terrakion and Virizion had stopped their fight and were rushing to save the pokemon from the blazing forest while the two brothers fought. And just like that, the war was suddenly over."

"Wait, it just ended? What happened?" Aamira was guessing this was the same story she heard about Cyrus and Darius, but this was a story being told by someone who was actually there. She couldn't help but want to know more.

"We became preoccupied by one particular pokemon we found, probably only a few days old, two of its legs were badly broken, and it was covered in burns. We looked for its parents, but couldn't find them. If it hadn't been a water type, the pokemon we found would have died in the fire. So while we were preoccupied, the war continued in the distance. We had to stop the fire somehow, so while Virizion watched over the young ones and Terrakion protected them with his power, I went to stop the fight. When I got there, it was already at a standstill. The two brothers were riding on the backs of their dragon pokemon and had been fighting while their armies were still miles away. It looked like mid-attack, a pokemon had run between the two dragons. I don't know why it happened, but the battle just stopped. I gathered up some water and ground types to help me with the fire and we went about looking for new homes for the pokemon."

"What happened to that younger one you couldn't find parents for?" Aamira asked.

"The three of us decided to distance ourselves from humans from that point on and we raised the orphan ourselves. That pokemon has long since grown up and even surpassed us, but how can I forget all of those times she came to me crying when she wanted to know who her real parents were? We couldn't tell her because we didn't know. We don't even know for sure if they died in the fire. For all we knew, they could have just abandoned her when her legs were broken and she couldn't keep up. This was the first time a war had been brought on entirely be humans and it was more devastating than anything pokemon have ever done on their own. I could never forgive humans for that."

"Why do you think she came to you all the time? I mean, Virizion is caring and Terrakion is strong and protective. Why did she choose you?"

"That's something I've been wondering for a long time." Cobalion finally stopped walking. They had reached a dead end. At the back of the cave, there was a small treasure chest. He walked over to it, opened it, and threw the last piece of the medallion to Aamira. This one was blue and, like the others, had a pattern that resembled the shape of Cobalion's horn. "If you ever meet her, maybe you could figure that out for me."

Aamira took out the other two pieces of the medallion and fit Cobalion's in with the other two. She waited for a minute, holding it in her trembling hands, but nothing happened. "Wasn't I supposed to turn into a pokemon when I collected all of these?"

"The medallion itself is nothing special; we have hundreds of these ready just in case anyone manages to pass our test. Just getting all of those pieces won't immediately turn you into a pokemon. Now that you've proven you have that resolve, you have to prove you can follow through with it. Do what you need to do; mistakes and regrets are expected as long as you're convinced to the end you're doing the right thing."

Aamira stared down at the amulet, feeling a little disappointed. "So these pieces of glass aren't anything special at all…"

"No, and they're fairly easy to make. Come to think of it, just a couple of weeks ago another human managed to collect all three of these."

"Wait, someone else did? Really?"

Cobalion sighed. "I hope this doesn't mean another war is coming… Yes, he even passed my test. He was affected by the dragon sleeping in the chasm like you were, but when he saw its eyes he actually tried to talk to it before passing out. He gave me an interesting answer too. While you said you'd find a way to save both groups, he said 'I'll save the pokemon.' He didn't care about what happened to the humans, since he was convinced they'd most likely be the cause for a situation like that. How could I not give him my medallion?" For a second Aamira thought she would finally see him smile, but she was disappointed again. "Your friends are waiting for you back near the hot springs. You should get moving."

Aamira turned to leave, but she felt like she should say something. "When I become a pokemon again, I hope we can get along. I'd understand if we couldn't be friends but… well, you know…"

Cobalion just stared at her and, feeling that she was just making the situation awkward, Aamira turned to leave. The walk back through the cave seemed a lot longer than the walk inside. It was a long walk back to the hot spring valley too and finding them wasn't easy. Eventually they ended up finding her since Lucario was able to see her aura in the area. While she had been trapped underground with some giant dragon that was slowly eating her energy, they had managed to find Capricorn wandering around in another valley.

Aamira showed them the finished medallion and explained what Cobalion had told her about turning back into a pokemon.

"So you just have to prove your resolve, right?" Quill said. "So how do you do that?"

"I don't know, fight Zoroark maybe? I don't really know what to do now. I think we should just go home for now until we figure out what to do next." Aamira said.

Quill and Lucario agreed and they headed back to Neltona. On their way out of the valley, they paused at Genesect's cave. They didn't stay for too long though. Even though Aamira had passed all of the tests, they still felt as rushed as ever.

Aamira couldn't help it. Almost the entire time they were traveling back to the manor, she was staring at the medallion. It might have just been a chunk of glass, but she was glad it was finally over and that she at least had something to show for it.

"You're going to drop it if you keep holding it. Just put it around your neck already." Lucario said. They had been traveling back for a couple of days by this point and Aamira had been staring at it for longer amounts of time ever since they got back to Neltona.

Cobalion's piece did have a chain attached to it, but it was short and would just barely fit around her neck. She wouldn't be able to look at it if she put it on. "I won't drop it. Besides, it's more symbolic than anything, right? It won't really matter if I drop it. Can you imagine the look on Darach's face when he sees it though? You know how crazy he is for stuff like this."

Within a few hours, they were in front of the manor again. Aamira was fussing over the medallion as usual and hardly even noticed.

"It's getting so dull." She complained as she tried to shine it by rubbing the fabric on her coat on it.

"Well what do you expect with you holding it constantly since you got the last piece?" Quill said irritably. He was nearly thrown off of Capricorn's back as he stopped walking suddenly. Aamira looked up and Quill turned around to see Lucario standing in front of them with his arm raised, blocking Capricorn's path.

"What is it?" Aamira asked.

"Something's not right here." Lucario, who had just been using his eyes until now, looked at the house with his aura. "There's no one here. I see people downstairs, but there's no one in the main house."

"Maybe Ul's downstairs and Pam just took the kids into town?" Quill suggested.

"I don't think so." Lucario said. "Doesn't anything seem strange about the house specifically?"

It took them a while to notice what he was talking about. All of the windows and doors were closed and most likely locked, so it still looked like they had just left the house if they had gone through the trouble of locking up first. Then Aamira noticed the eaves.

"The Shuppet are gone."


	23. Chapter 23 Smiling at the Moon

Aamira and Quill jumped off of Capricorn's back and they walked towards the house cautiously while Capricorn ran back to the stables to wait. The door was locked so Lucario had to kick it in for them to get inside. For a house with so many kids, it looked almost too clean. Lucario searched the bottom floor for clues while Aamira checked the bedroom and Quill went up to their room to gather the rest of their things in case they had to make a quick retreat.

"There's no one here and nothing to tell us where they might have gone." Lucario said when Quill and Aamira joined him back downstairs. "We're going to have to check the basement. Maybe they had to hide from something and Ul took Pam and the kids down there."

"Maybe, but I don't want to know what would be bad enough that he would reveal the secret that he had been trying so hard to keep." Aamira took the lead, running to the door in the kitchen that led to the basement. The bookshelf hiding the door was already slid aside while the door itself was still locked. Luckily they still remembered the code from the very first time they had come down here, but this was the first thing they had found that seemed out of place. Ul wouldn't have left the bookshelf like this if they were just trying to hide down here.

They went through the door, but all of the rooms they checked were opened and no one was in them.

"All of the people here are farther in." Lucario said. "I thought they might be trying to hide from something, but I'm not so sure now. It would have been too easy to find the entrance with the bookshelf not covering the door."

"Let's move quietly." Aamira whispered back to Quill and Lucario. "If someone else is down here, I don't want them to hear us."

As soon as Aamira had stopped speaking, Quill screamed behind them. Aamira and Lucario turned to find Quill immobilized in the air, unable to move at all. The next second, Lucario was bound up in the same way. Aamira turned back around to look for their attacker and was instantly suspended the way Lucario and Quill had been with her arms and legs bound together by a strong force. The second she was hit by it, the medallion that she was still clutching in her hand fell onto the floor.

Less than a minute later, they heard footsteps coming from the direction that Aamira was facing. Darach ran towards them as if he were running for his life and stopped and stared, stunned, at the scene in front of him. He noticed the medallion on the ground and ran over to pick it up.

"Don't worry about that thing right now, there's not actually anything special about it. You have to get away from here before whatever's holding us like this catches you too!" Aamira shouted.

Darach held the medallion up to the light and looked at it closer. "Don't you think it would have caught me by now if that were the case? This really is a pretty little trinket you picked up. It's worth more than you might think."

There was something wrong here. Aamira didn't want to believe it though. She had to be misunderstanding something. "If you're not going to run, find a way to get us down from here."

Darach looked over the medallion for a few more seconds before lowering his hand. "Getting you down would be easy enough, but Hypno isn't my partner. You'll have to bring that up with the General when she gets here. Or Xerxes. Whoever gets here first."

Aamira started shaking in spite of the psychic force holding her in place. He couldn't actually be here, could he? One thing was clear though and that was that Darach was no longer an ally. "Where are Faris and Bisharp? And where are Ul, Pam, and my cousins?"

"You don't even know the childrens' names, do you? I remember when you were their age, you would have been eager to learn their names. You didn't know any children your age after all. It doesn't matter, I guess. They're safe, as far as I know. I believe they were transported back to the capital some time ago. There wasn't enough room to bring everyone back at once."

Aamira glanced down at the medallion. "At least give it back to me."

Darach took a few steps closer and dangled the medallion just inches in front of her face. "Oh I thought you said it was worthless. It's worth a lot, I'll tell you that. Here's an interesting story. Human society used to be divided up into several tribes of unsophisticated barbarians. At one point, they all fought over who should be the leader of them all. The only ones that didn't fight were Dargonians, of course, the cowards. One particular person, instead of fighting, gathered these medallions. With the backing of the three legendary pokemon, who would ever deny that he would be the rightful king? And now who would ever deny that Xerxes is the true king, after the world sees what the legendary pokemon have given him? Neltona's forces will crumble and they will submit to us and in time Dargan will join them. It will be a beautiful new world, undivided by our invisible borders. And I will get my wish as well. I will erase any history of any of Dargan's silly two-dragon legends and any of Neltona's absurd black dragon fairy tales."

"I thought you were Aamira's only friend back when she was a kid. Why are you doing this now?" Quill asked.

"I thought it was a good idea at the time." Darach explained. "Get on the new monarch's good side, that's what I thought. Maybe in time my convictions did sway and I decided to help her honestly, but what did I get in return? A death warrant, that's what. And after all of these years, somehow your friend here hasn't aged at all. All I had done was doom myself into the shadow of a child rather than the shadow of a king."

"And in my shadow you shall stay."

Quill and Lucario both heard Aamira's sharp intake of breath, but neither of them could be sure since they couldn't see her face. Aamira hadn't even noticed him walking down the hall. If Darach hadn't distracted her, she should have at least heard the sound of his claws scraping against the hard tile floor.

Darach turned hastily and bowed to Zoroark, who was, of course, in his human illusion. Aamira could see straight through it though. His illusion did nothing to fool her, but it wasn't intended to anyway. The second she made eye contact with Zoroark's real eyes, she snapped her own eyes shut.

"Oh what's the matter, my dear?" Zoroark asked as if talking to a beloved pet. "I thought you could see though my illusions, so what will closing your eyes do? Did you have a nice vacation, running around with legendary pokemon and playing with your cousins? Are you ready to come home?" Aamira still didn't want to open her eyes. It would be so much easier just to pretend that he was still just a figment of her nightmares and if he never really existed at all. Zoroark wasn't going to allow it. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her head. "You should learn to speak when you're spoken to."

"Get away from her!" Lucario shouted with an angry growl. The only thing he could do in his position was bare his teeth. If he could move, he would have torn Zoroark to pieces.

Zoroark took a step away from Aamira and turned his attention to Lucario. "Ah, Lucario. You know, my offer still stands. You'll be a high ranking official when you join me. Don't worry about the child, I only really need one hostage to convince her to do what I want."

"You should at least call her by her name." Lucario said, shaking with anger. "All of that 'my dear' and 'child' stuff… At least show your own kid some respect!"

Zoroark shrugged. "I wouldn't know what to call her anymore, honestly. And besides, show respect to something I created? It's supposed to be the other way around. I saw what you three have done to Porygon and I'm not impressed. It will take some adjusting to even make him follow the simplest of commands now. If that sort of damage was caused by your respect, I think I'll pass. Now about that other hostage…" Zoroark switched his attention to Quill. "You must be Quill. Your sister has told me a lot about you. Daisy, I mean. I'm sure you three have figured out my trick by now. It wasn't really intended to do anything important, just some harmless fun."

'Harmless!?' Quill wanted to shout at him like Lucario had done. He at least wanted to bare his teeth or something to show his outrage, but he thought he probably looked more terrified than anything. He couldn't manage to open his mouth or make even the smallest sound. This was the first time he had ever seen Zoroark. He thought that the stories Lucario and Aamira had said about him but have been exaggerated to some extent, but he could see now that this wasn't the case.

"Oh, not talking huh? Your sweet little sister was the same way at first. I don't think illusions of children will work on you though. I don't think I'm in the mood for illusions right now anyway. Can't I persuade you to make just one terrified little squeak, little mouse?"

Quill screamed, but Aamira couldn't see what Zoroark had done. "Quill!" She struggled to turn around and see what had happened, but there was no resisting the psychic powers of whatever pokemon was still holding her in place.

Zoroark let out his usual maniacal laugh which always had a habit of completely ruining any charm he tried to put on prior to it. Zoroark hurried back over to Aamira, with a smirk to match the laugh. "Oh I love it! When was the last time I got a reaction like that from you, hmm? Your appearance here was an unexpected one. I can't begin to guess what had happened to Genesect, but I'm glad he failed. This way I get all three of you. Well we shouldn't linger here all day, should we? I think I'll escort the three of you back myself, just so you don't try anything."

Darach locked a couple of Leuminite collars around Quill's and Lucario's necks to keep them from using any attacks. A few minutes later, the General showed up with her partner, who had evolved into a Hypno and who had been the one holding them in place this entire time. He looked exhausted from using his psychic powers for so long and from such a long distance off. He released them, leaving his partner to escort them.

Aamira was led through the manor by Zoroark, which she was sure he wanted her to regard as some sort of privilege. Of course she didn't dare to try to run for it while Quill and Lucario were being led by the edge of a sword. They were led to the back of the manor near the stables where there was a carriage waiting for them. It was led by a couple of Rapidash that didn't look nearly as strong as Capricorn. They probably didn't get out for anything aside from trips like this.

Quill and Lucario were led to a separate coach in the back of the carriage. Aamira tried to follow them, but Zoroark placed his claws around her shoulders and held her back. Lucario and Quill stopped for a moment but at the sight of the sword close to them when they were as vulnerable as any human, they decided it was best to cooperate for the time being.

"You don't want to sit back there." Zoroark whispered to Aamira. "You're going to sit next to me the whole trip back. That way I can keep a look out for any little tricks you might try to pull. I don't want to open the back of the carriage later to find it empty with a hole cut in the bottom of it."

Aamira was about to climb into the carriage on her own when Zoroark stopped her. "Hold on, I want to do this now so I don't forget later." Zoroark snapped his fingers. Aamira felt a strange sensation like cold water running down her skin and then a familiar presence that was always with her just suddenly vanished. She looked down at her feet and saw that her shadow was gone. "Beautiful things, illusions. You might be able to see through them, but I can still bend light to create or destroy shadows. Darach, of course, told me about what happened last time on the new moon. Using a Darkrai to escape! I wouldn't have believed it if it were anyone but you, my dear."

Darkrai walked up behind Aamira and pushed her inside of the carriage while she was still stunned into silence. A part of her had still been hoping that this was part of an elaborate plan by Darach, but now she saw that there was no other possibility. He wouldn't have told Zoroark about her only escape route if this were some kind of plan. How else had Zoroark known where to send Genesect? Aamira herself had asked Darach to confirm where they were supposed to go before they left. He was one of the only people who knew where they were going. And now Darkrai was gone. At least when she was locked up before, she would have his faint, lingering presence for company.

"It's quite a sad world, isn't it," Zoroark added as he climbed in after her, "when even something as mundane as having a shadow becomes a privilege? Maybe if you behave yourself, you can have it back for a few hours on the full moon."

Aamira refused to reply. This had always been her tactic with him. Unless she had some witty retort to annoy him with, she would always stay silent. When she thought about it that way, this almost seemed like a normal family rivalry. It was true that she hated Zoroark more than anything else in the world. Aside from hatred, fear, and an overwhelming desire to escape somehow, there was something else she felt the second he appeared. She felt relieved, comforted even, just by his presence.

Darach joined them while, Aamira assumed, the General stayed on the outside to direct the Rapidash. Aamira didn't even want to look in his general direction. She was content for the time being just to stare out the window and watch as the place she had come to regard as home slowly slipped away.

Quill craned his neck to look through the small window in the back of the carriage. It seemed like night had only taken minutes to fall. When thinking of a carriage that was used by royalty, he expected something a little more luxurious. He had gotten a brief glimpse of the front, which only had plain wooden seats. Their position was a little worse. He and Lucario were practically stuffed into a small compartment in the back of it. He assumed it was because this area had a lock so they couldn't just jump out. They would want to separate them from Aamira too so she would have to consider the safety of Zoroark's hostages before doing anything rash.

"It's already night. How long do you think it will take to get there?" Quill asked Lucario.

Lucario shrugged. "Maybe by tomorrow evening? Noon at the earliest? The Rapidash can't move at their top speeds while pulling something like this. I doubt they're as fast as Capricorn anyway."

Quill sighed and slumped back against the wall. He pulled at the collar for about the fiftieth time since they had been caught. With the nimble form of a Quilava, he thought he might be able to slip out of something like this, but it felt like it was perfectly made for the size of his neck. It was so tight that when he had fallen asleep for a few minutes at one point, he was woken up almost instantly by the collar nearly strangling him.

"I hope they don't make us wear these things all the time." Quill said. "Where does Zoroark get this much Leuminite anyway? I thought it was supposed to be rare."

"He probably has a secret mine somewhere. He seems like the type to fill up his dungeons quickly. He needs something to do with all of those people." Lucario hesitated before adding, "Do you remember what Aamira said about his species? He'll eat any kind of meat; human, pokemon, or animal."

Quill shuddered. "I don't really want to think about that. If you had seen the way he was staring at me earlier… Even if he did look like a human, look what he did." Quill turned slightly so the scratches on his chest were visible. If they had been just a couple of inches higher, he might have been in some real trouble. "It feels like something's always threatening to eat me. I just want to hurry and evolve again so I won't have to worry about that as much. It's too bad Eevee didn't make a portable evolution machine or something. That is, if he could make it work for me."

"It's still not working?" Lucario asked. "I was thinking maybe evolving once would have fixed it."

"I was hoping so myself, but that's not how it happened." Quill's ear twitched and he moved closer to the wall separating them from the main part of the carriage.

"What is it?" Lucario asked.

"These walls are surprisingly good at blocking out sound. Must be some kind of insulation between the wooden planks. It sounds like they're arguing about something."

"Aamira and Zoroark?" Lucario laughed. "At least we don't have to worry about having traveling with an imposter this whole time. If he didn't need her to find that key so badly, she'd probably end up dinner for this."

Quill shuddered again. "You mentioned it again. Evolving might not even help in this case, if he's eaten fully grown humans before."

"Can you hear what they're saying?"

Quill tried to focus on their shouts, but it was just too muffled. They had to be shouting at the top of their lungs for him to be able to hear them at all. His head almost hit the wall when the carriage stopped suddenly. Why had they stopped? The argument couldn't be that serious could it? Maybe they had just reached a camp of some sort.

They heard a click and turned towards the door. Darach opened it while holding a dagger with a white hilt. They didn't know what was happening, but they could hear the shouting more clearly and Darach looked furious about something.

"Get out! Now!" he shouted as he grabbed their collars and forced them out.

"What's happening?" Lucario asked.

"I don't know and I don't really care. Whatever it is, they want you two to watch, so hurry up."

Out to the side of the carriage, it looked like Zoroark and Aamira were still in some sort of heated argument. Their faces were only inches away from each other. Aamira was trying to keep eye contact, but seemed to be having trouble. The General was standing next to them, as if she'd actually be able to break up a fight between them if one broke out. Even though Aamira's eyes were locked on Zoroark's she was watching Darach lead her friends over out of the corner of her eye.

Quill shuddered when he first noticed Zoroark. He had let down his illusion and now he could see what he really looked like. He had to smile though when he noticed one of his claws that seemed to be filed regularly was a lot smaller than the others. Aamira really did break it.

"Now that's no way to treat your captives, is it? Swinging that dagger around like you might actually know how to use it." Aamira said.

"He knows how to use it." Zoroark replied. "I made sure of that before I had it made for him."

Aamira glanced over to Quill and Lucario and instantly saw the cuts on Quill's chest. "Really smart, hurting a hostage. How do you expect me to do anything if you're constantly hurting them?"

"They're alive, aren't they?" Zoroark looked mad, but the tone of his voice sounded more bored than anything. "And they'll only stay that way as long as you cooperate."

"Why leave both of them alive?" Aamira asked. "How many hostages do you really need? You know there's only so much I'm going to do for their sake. Once you're out of hostages, that's the end."

Zoroark's creepy smile returned. "Is that so? It's a little late to act detached. I know that you wouldn't be able to live anymore if you lost even one of them. As for why they're both still alive, it's a good thing for you to wonder at least. It means you have no idea what I'm planning to do. Every time you disobey an order, you'll go to bed wondering if you've just killed one of your friends." Zoroark's smile widened slightly. "No, it shouldn't be like that, should it? I've raised you better than that. You'll go to bed wondering which one you killed."

Aamira moved towards Zoroark suddenly and Zoroark reacted before the General could. Before Aamira could even touch him, he grabbed her by the neck and threw her back. "Now don't start that again. Not here at least. Wouldn't you rather do that in an area where there's a doctor around? You remember what happened last time."

Aamira coughed and rubbed her neck. "Yea, last time I broke your claw. Next time I'll rip both of your arms out of their sockets."

Zoroark laughed. "Oh so violent! Where do you get such ferocity, hmm? Maybe you were right though. Two hostages are too many." Zoroark glanced at Darach and Darach raised his dagger.

"No!" Aamira started to run towards them, but Darach had stopped the second she screamed. Zoroark raised an arm to block her path. This was something they had planned to do from the start, just to get a reaction out of her. She turned back towards Zoroark, who was laughing now, and glared with such ferocity that surely a weaker pokemon might faint just from making eye contact.

"You really do want me dead. That's somewhat amusing, I guess. I like when you get like this; you're usually so boring." Zoroark turned to Quill and Lucario. "So here's the thing. You might have heard our argument, I don't know, but it was a completely pointless one. This child here has never had much respect for authority. You see, I know practically all there is to know about her and she still seems to think that she would be able to, without acting on impulse from losing her temper, consciously and purposely take my life. Ridiculous, wouldn't you say? I certainly would at any rate. That's why I've come up with a little game for us to play and I want you two to see the result."

Aamira sighed. "Another one of your games? Don't you ever get tired of playing games?"

"Of course not. At least, not when I'm playing against you, my dear." He turned towards the General. "If you're going to stand there watching over us like that, do something useful. Give her your sword."

She looked towards Zoroark in a way that looked like she thought she must have misheard. "Sir, you're not actually considering—."

"How many times have I said only to speak when I tell you to? That tongue of yours will get you in trouble one of these days. Now don't question me, just hurry up and do what I say!"

She clenched her teeth, drew her sword, and threw it at Aamira's feet. Immediately Aamira reached down and snatched it up. By the time she had straightened up, Zoroark had already backed away, out of her striking distance. There was no way he was actually going to fight her. The one time he physically hurt her was when he had lost his temper after something she had done and, as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't stand a chance against him.

"I'm going to explain how this game works." Zoroark said as if he were speaking to a toddler. "Now you get one shot and that's it. I won't move from this spot or attempt to block, dodge, or counter in any way. If you can manage to do it, then good for you. Your friends are free to go, you can take my throne if you so choose or do whatever you want. That's it, you've beaten the big bad villain, and your quest is over. You can rescue Faris, your uncle, and anyone else that I've taken prisoner and I guarantee there will be no resistance from anyone else. Well, I can't really speak for Houndoom. He's a free spirit, you see. He just tags along with me for the fun of it. Other than that though, you won't meet much resistance and certainly none on my part."

Zoroark giving her a free shot? This couldn't be real. "What's the catch?"

"Oh I'm hurt, my dear. You think I'd ask for anything in return? Or trick you in some way? I don't need to resort to such lowly tactics with you. Besides, it's more fun this way. How about this? If you think this deal seems a little one sided, as you obviously do being the kind, considerate person that you are, maybe there is something." He closed his eyes and thought about it for a moment. It looked like he really hadn't thought of anything in the event that he won.

'What's Aamira doing?' Quill wondered as he looked between her and Zoroark. 'He's not even looking! Why doesn't she just end this now and get it over with?'

"Hmm, maybe…" Zoroark straightened up and stretched his arms. "Alright, here's the deal then. If you win, you get to do whatever I said before, no changes there. Darach, make sure you set those two free without hurting them on the off chance she does manage to win." He turned towards the General. "I trust you'll make sure of it." He looked back towards Aamira. "Now for my end of the deal, if I win I'm not going to allow you to hide out in your room whenever you want. No, you'll be eating dinner with me from now on, understand? Maybe some nights I'll be too busy or just not in the mood, but whenever I say I want to enjoy a nice dinner in your company, I want you to oblige without complaint."

"Fine. I know you like hearing yourself talk, but can we get on with this now or what?" Aamira asked, sounding as bored as Zoroark had before.

Zoroark bowed and held both of his hands behind his back. "Whenever you're ready. Remember, you get one shot. If I die, you win."

'He actually thinks I'm going to lose at a game like this after all he's put me through?' This was it. This was really the end. All she had to do was stab Zoroark once and it would be over. She knew he wasn't tricking her in any way; it wouldn't have been fun enough for him if he knew for sure he was going to win. There had to be at least a slight hint of doubt for him to consider this interesting.

Aamira walked towards Zoroark, steadily gaining speed as she did, and raised the sword. This would all be over soon. Even if Darach resisted, this would have been a victory that the General would have to acknowledge. She would help to free her friends if it came to it.

There were so many things that Aamira would never remember. It hadn't stopped Zoroark from trying to remind her though. After all of the years he had tormented her, he was finally going to pay for it. No one else would have to suffer again. Being in charge of an entire kingdom might turn out not to be so bad. She couldn't do any worse than a psychopathic fox at least.

She was only a couple of feet away from him now, well within striking distance. He was a lot taller than her, but that wasn't a problem with the added reach of the sword. She tightened her grip on the sword's hilt, aiming at his neck which he was leaving clearly exposed. It would be the quickest way. She would prefer it if he died slowly, but it would be better for everyone if she just ended this as fast as possible. She was just about to swing the sword at his neck, when he glanced down at her, making eye contact. The sword was already moving, but she stopped before making contact with his neck. Of course he just had to look at her. Why? But when she looked into those eyes…

'… I can't do it…' Aamira let her arm fall and dropped the sword to the ground at her feet.

"Is that it?" Zoroark said, with an ever growing smirk. "You're giving up, just like that?"

Aamira noticed Lucario and Quill shift nervously off to her right where they were still held at dagger point by Darach. She had no doubt about it; they had noticed. She didn't care if they knew how she got the scars on the side of her head, but what they had no doubt figured out by now was the one thing she never wanted either of them to know.

Zoroark moved towards her and Aamira resisted the impulse to move away. He spoke directly into her hear. She hated when her teeth were that close to her neck, but what else could she do but just stand there and take whatever ridicule he threw at her? "I guess that means I won. Well, was there really ever any doubt? You were always physically incapable of hurting me on purpose. After all, if a pokemon dies so does their partner. You couldn't have done it even if you had really wanted to."

Quill and Lucario watched, too stunned for words, as Aamira followed Zoroark back inside the carriage without the slightest hint of defiance or even being ordered to do so. Darach led them by the collars back to their compartment and locked the door behind him. It was completely dark by now, not that being caught in the moonlight mattered anymore. Even though it was dark, there was no mistake in what they had seen. Aamira hadn't even denied it herself.

She was going to do it; the sword was just a few inches from his neck. Then he made eye contact. What had they heard so many times since they first came to this world? It was the human who recognized their partner first and they did it by looking into their eyes.

Neither of them had to say anything. They both knew what the other was thinking. They were thinking back to what Stoutland had said about the argument he overheard between Zoroark and Aamira. "He said that she would never earn her partner's approval if she kept denying her fate."

Back in the main compartment, Aamira had gone back to staring out of the window as if nothing had happened. She knew that she couldn't hide how hurt her pride was from what had just happened. She knew that Zoroark could tell how much it had hurt her, but Darach seemed to accept that she hadn't been affected by it at all. In fact, he was more upset by the fact that Zoroark had never told him that Aamira was his partner. Zoroark refused to argue with him, saying that arguments with him weren't as fun as they were with Aamira, which left Aamira to try to drown out the one sided argument.

'Some argument we got into, though.' she thought. 'I was the only one yelling. Zoroark didn't lose his temper for even a second.'

She tried resonating with Quill in an attempt to explain what had happened, but either he just didn't want to talk with her, their auras were too out of synch, or their collars somehow prevented it. Not that she probably would have been able to explain much. All he would most likely be able to feel was her guilt. She should have told them. Maybe then she wouldn't have had to try so hard to avoid eye contact.

They didn't stop once the whole way there, for food or anything. Aamira realized that her last decent meal was from before they left for the Desolate Chasm. That was almost a week ago. From living in Dargan for so long she was still used to going for a long time without eating. Quill and Lucario had to be starving though.

Finally they reached Inari, the city Aamira had been born in. Around the edge of the city, which was made almost entirely of a mixture of red and yellow bricks, was a series of intricate railways. At the center, of course, was the clock tower, which was part of the city's emblem, a clock tower with a shining star directly over it.

Towering above the rest of the city, clock tower included, was Maze Castle. It was a confusing thing with spires jutting out from the sides and sideways towers with nothing to support them other than the tower their bases were connected to. It had more hidden passages than anyone could count or even remember past several generations. Sometimes the hidden passages were hard to distinguish from the regular ones, which would lead people around in strange detours back into the place they had come from. The whole thing really was a giant maze. She had seen it before from Mt. Victoria, but it looked even stranger from this close up.

Aamira let out a sigh. Somehow, this city still had the feeling of home, even if she could never remember it having been a real home.

Darach left the carriage, probably to escort Quill and Lucario somewhere else before Aamira would even be able to catch a glimpse of them again, leaving her and Zoroark completely alone.

"I'll be honest with you," he said, "I always hated this city."

"Why's that?" Aamira asked.

"The name." he said absentmindedly. "It's not really any of your concern. Inari's a dead thing anyway; has been for a long time. Still, when I first discovered that there was a city named Inari, I decided right then that it would be the first city I would take in this world. I had no idea it was the capitol of an entire country. Strange how it works, isn't it?"

"You really do like listening to yourself talk, don't you?" Aamira asked.

Zoroark laughed. "Maybe. When you learn a technique called 'Silvertongue', it's just one of those that feel like it should be exploited as much as possible. Never mind that though; I know you've had a long journey and I'm not the sort who will want to pick up right where we left off without giving you a moment to rest. You'll have a few days at least. So what would you like for dinner tonight?"

There was no point in really fighting it. She would have to eat anyway whether she upheld her end of the bargain and ate dinner with Zoroark or not. 'I could go on a hunger strike.' She thought briefly, even though she knew it would never work. She had already tried it once before. "Tuna, medium rare, garnished with red and green peppers."

"One of my favorites. How did you know?" Zoroark asked.

Aamira actually didn't know. It made sense for a fox-like pokemon to like fish. She also had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to get away with not eating meat from this point on. It was just the first thing that came to her mind, considering the city was right against the edge of the ocean and was one of the main port towns in the country.

Zoroark escorted her himself up to a new room that she would be staying in. It was a lot larger than any of the others she had been in before. She guessed it was probably around the same size as the one Zoroark stayed in. There was a large circular bed that could fit a Snorlax and probably support one too, a bathroom with a walk in shower, hot tub, and a bathtub the size of a small pool. There was a walk-in closet already filled with fancy dresses and shoes. The room itself was painted a faint golden color and furnished with old antique dressers, desks, and tables, a few chairs, a couch, and a rug that nearly covered the whole floor. The room was circular, which made her guess that it was up in one of the towers, not that she minded heights since she spent a while living in a tree that swayed every time the wind blew. This room would have been a paradise for any other girl in the country aside from the one standing in it now. Unless there was a sword hidden under the bed or some ancient artifact that could help her escape and beat Zoroark, she could care less.

"This was the room that your mother had stayed in. The very one you were born in, in fact. I thought you'd find it more to your liking than the one you stayed in before."

Aamira was about to protest, but the second she turned around, the door closed and the lock clicked automatically. One thing that she had learned about him was that Zoroark never did anything without a reason. This symbolized something, most likely. Probably some fresh new start in the very room where Aamira was born where, from now on, she would follow all of her orders like a good, obedient pet.

She walked over to the window, which didn't have any glass in it and looked out over the city. No one would be able to see her from this height and she certainly wouldn't be jumping. Maybe she'd get lucky and a bird pokemon would fly by and notice her? Unlikely. Any of the guards that had bird pokemon had them fly around the higher spires to defend from possible aerial attacks. Most likely, all of the ones that flew by would be working directly under Zoroark. She wondered vaguely for a moment what happened to Unfezant. She had to still be alive somewhere if that traitor Darach was still around.

She looked around the room once more and decided that there was one way that she could still express her defiance. As long as she was here, she was going to enjoy Zoroark's generous hospitality. Every night before going to bed, she would swim in the bath tub or maybe enjoy the hot tub if she didn't feel like smelling like a rose garden that particular night. Every night at dinner, she would ask for the most complicated desserts and eat until she was sick. Then, when she would have time to herself in the evenings, she would sit by this window and watch the sun set, maybe even stay up late and smile at the moon.


	24. Chapter 24 The Seer's Stone

The first night back home, Aamira found out why there wasn't any glass in the window. A few hours before sunset, a Pidgey flew into the window, handed her a message, and flew back out. It was a message from Zoroark telling her where a key for the door was hidden in her room. Apparently he had just locked her in so she could calm down for a few hours. Of course she was free to go wherever wasn't off limits. There were guards stationed in several places to keep her from entering the main part of the castle, the dungeons, and of course any exits. Not that she would leave with Lucario and Quill locked up somewhere. He made it clear in the letter that the second she walked out of the castle, they were both dead. Afterwards he made a polite and gracious invitation to dinner where the request that she had made would be served.

Aamira got the key from inside one of the many pillows on the bed, thinking that she would have to ransack the room later to find anything else Zoroark might have hidden. Dinner was quiet, though it was the best thing she had tasted since she stopped eating meat, and she returned to her room without incident. She searched the room, but found nothing else.

What Aamira hadn't known was that when Zoroark said that she would be invited to dinner with him, it meant that she wouldn't be eating any other meals. For her to not starve to death, she had to face him every day. It was obvious what he was doing. None of the guards spoke to her or even acknowledged her existence. When changing the guard, they didn't even speak to each other. The carriers that brought her Zoroark's messages never spoke either. The only interaction she ever got was with Zoroark. He wanted her to look forward to their time together. After a while, it started to work.

After a few weeks, Zoroark was trying to get her to speak to him rather than just sit through dinner quietly. She always refused to talk though. She knew he hated it when she didn't talk, but he was being more patient than he normally would have been. He would always be disguised as a human too, probably to try to relate to her or something. She didn't really understand why since she could only ever see the faint outline or shadow of his illusions. Aamira felt like she would go insane if she didn't speak to someone. It was only a matter of time.

Then something happened that changed that. Aamira was laying asleep in her bed one night, when a sharp stab at her shoulder woke her up. She swatted at whatever it was that was poking her and sat up, letting her eyes adjust in the almost complete darkness.

"Boss!" The little bird pokemon chirped through the envelope stuffed into its beak.

"Pido—" Aamira coughed to clear her throat. Not talking for weeks made her throat a little sore. "Pidove, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in ages."

Pidove set the envelope down next to her on the bed. "Dunno who it was, but someone asked me to send this to you. Said you'd been caught. You wouldn't believe what I had to fly through to get up here. Those guards are serious, seriously big, and some of them even more seriously hungry."

Aamira yawned and reached over to the lamp on her bedside table. She stopped before turning it on though. She didn't want the light to attract any attention in case someone was standing outside the door. She got up and walked over to the window, where she opened the envelope and read the message. The paper smelled strangely like pine needles. The neat calligraphic handwriting was nothing like Zoroark's. He could have disguised his handwriting, but that wasn't really the sense Aamira got from it. The message itself was just one line. "Under the bed, third floorboard from the wall."

Aamira crawled under the bed and pushed the carpet up out of the way. This was one of those times that being small for her age actually came in handy. The floorboards were large and a single one took up most of the space under the bed three spaces from the wall. There was a crack on the edge. In such an old building, cracked floorboards weren't uncommon. She pulled on it and it opened on a hinge. It was a hidden door and underneath it was a large room.

Aamira jumped down inside and Pidove followed her. She found some candles with some matches on a table and lit a match to give her some light while she closed the door. After she lit all of the candles and the room was bright enough, she took a look around. Dusty old books and half decayed scrolls, weird spherical gemstones, and the stacks of unmarked parchment, ink pens and ink bottles.

"Looks like Anima was trying to make her own library or something." Aamira said.

Pidove jumped onto the desk that was covered in glowing candles and walked up to a glass box filled with sand. "What's this for?"

"Ink can smear and blot easily on parchment and becomes unreadable if it has to be folded up. People usually dust it with sand in order to make it dry faster. Wealthier people will buy unusually colored sand at high prices since it sometimes sticks to the paper. Most people just get ground types or pokemon that can use Sand Attack to do it for them. What are these things though?" Aamira picked up one of the spherical crystals. "It's too round to make a good paperweight."

"I think it's a seer's stone. They used to grow naturally but a lot of people mined them up and cut them into these spherical shapes to sell to people claiming they could use them to see the future. It's where the crystal ball thing came from."

"So what's it really for?" Aamira asked.

"I'm not sure. Aura Readers and Guardians were sometimes seen using them and apparently when still in the ground they could be used to communicate over large distances instantly with someone else that could control aura, but it seems useless in this state."

Aamira tried focusing her aura on it. There was something there, she could just barely feel it. If she were a Riolu she could have gotten to it instantly. It reminded her of the time that she unsealed Articuno from her treasure. She had been such an amateur back then. Back then, she didn't even know what and Aura Reader was.

She reached into the center of the sphere and found something. She wasn't sure what it was at first, until she started to hear a whispered voice. It was such a sweet and familiar voice, but she was sure she had never beard it before. She slammed the stone back onto the table and stepped away from it. Her mother had been using it to record her thoughts.

"What did it do?" Pidove asked.

"Nothing." Aamira looked away from the stone and started walking towards the ladder.

"Didn't look like nothing to me." Pidove flew over and landed on one of the rungs of the ladder, blocking Aamira's path. "Why do you hate your mom so much?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Can you get out of my way?"

Pidove looked unsure, but he stayed put. "Don't you think you should at least hear what that stone was saying? It was left out in the open right there where you could find it, wasn't it?"

"How do you know it said something?"

"It wasn't too hard to figure out." Pidove jumped aside and landed on the desk. "Go on, if you want. I guess none of this is really any of my business. That's the reason I got fired from Neltona in the first place. Just couldn't mind my own business."

Aamira tightened her grip on the ladder. After weeks of no contact with anyone, she finally had the opportunity to at least hear someone else's voice and she was about to back out. There was still Pidove, but he couldn't just hide in her room forever. Aamira let go of the ladder and walked over to the desk where she sat down and picked up the stone again. "Just a few minutes."

"To whoever listens to these stones, I apologize in advance for not dating any of them. To certain people, they'll be easy enough to decipher. If my abilities haven't led me wrong, like they never have so far, then the one listening to this stone now is my own daughter. You were given the name Destiny when you were born, but a dear friend of yours gave you the name Aamira. You and your friends have gone on many adventures already, met a few of your ancestors, a few of theirs too, and have defeated many evils and restored balance to the world more than once. At the end of your final adventure, you decided to return home with the fake memories of your forgotten past to spy on the beast that had at one point locked me in this very room. Am I right so far?

"I should explain how this all happened. The other stones all have recorded messages like this one from various points when these events took place, but in this one I'll give a brief summary, an explanation, and in the end beg for your forgiveness for I know how badly I've hurt you.

"You've no doubt already been told about how Zoroark took over our—that is to say—your kingdom. What I'm going to tell you now is how I died. I've known it will happen for months. Through my many efforts to fight Zoroark and gain the trust of my people once again, I would fail in all of my efforts. When the king died, I was forced to either marry him or let the kingdom fall into anarchy and leave it for him to repair. I thought, at the very least, I could give you a natural birth instead of being another one of his clones created in a lab somewhere. I won't explain the whole process, since I don't know that much about it myself, but through some process, he was able to combine his DNA with human DNA to influence yours and make it possible for you to exist at all. I guess in a way you were still created in a lab, but at the very least you were born naturally. Still, it felt to me as if Zoroark had already destroyed something sacred by creating life through machine. I would have preferred it if he would have just turned himself into a human, but of course he would refuse to stoop to such low levels as I had been forced to do.

"As far as I'm aware, you already know about being a human-born pokemon. That means that at one point, I was also a pokemon. My memories from my time as a pokemon are foggy, so I can't, or won't, tell you much. All I'll say is that I fought Zoroark before. He's not easy to fight against in any state, no matter what your type. A good friend of mine, in fact, had an advantage over him. That friend died while trying to save me from Zoroark, but in the end, only bought me more time.

"I've been resigned to my fate for some time now, but I assure you I've tried everything to break away from it. Zoroark and I had many battles as both pokemon and human, both physical and battles of the mind. Each time I thought I had an advantage, I would lose. Our last battle was over you. For some reason, our DNA wouldn't take to each other. It makes sense, considering humans and pokemon were never meant to have children and this was only possible by some scientific miracle. I started to think that maybe I would be able to defeat him before he succeeded, but again my hopes were in vain. I wondered if it was true at all, that our DNA couldn't be spliced together somehow. If maybe he just wanted to get one more laugh before I died. I was wrong though. His last laugh was when he gave you such a cruel name. I said myself that I had been resigned to my own fate, that's true, but I've come to realize by this point just what his "destiny" is. It is an illusion and nothing more. It's a trap covered with illusions and lies, trickeries and betrayals, and when the trap snaps shut like his jaws might on some poor little creature when he's in the mood for a midday snack, there's no escape. Don't let it come to this.

"I thought that it really was the end when it came close to the day you were born. You have no idea what agony something like that is to go through, knowing that not only I would die after I had a child but also knowing that this same child was one that I was brining into the world for the sole purpose of being forced into a life of slavery. I decided then that when you were born, I would kill you to save us both. It was an idea that had come across me several times, but I had never been able to agree to it until the weeks following your birth. How many people can say that their mother, while giving birth to them, was hiding a knife under their pillow? I did plan to kill you and if not for one thing, I might have. And for that, I'm sorry.

"I was exhausted after you had finally been born. My handmade who was also acting as a midwife said that I had become anemic. Zoroark would easily be able to pass my death off as being caused by some difficulties. After I had a few minutes of rest, I at least wanted to hold you once. I decided then that I wouldn't let Zoroark have his way. We would both die together before he even had a chance to see you. That's when the miracle happened. As I was singing you a lullaby from the music box you no doubt now have in your possession, the fain glow entering the room from the moon outside turned red. I sat up against my maid's advice and saw the moon, perfectly framed in the window, glowing red. It was an eclipse and for a moment Zoroark would be blind. It's at this moment, I picked up the stone.

"As I am presently record my thoughts, I know that I will be dead in a few hours. It stopped being of much concern to me, but now I know that I can at least choose the way I die. I choose to die doing all I can to protect your future. There is a friend of mine who Zoroark miraculously hasn't discovered yet. Her name is Morrigan. I won't tell you to trust her, that's for you to decide. I don't know what sort of person she will be if and when you are able to read this. When I make a run for it, I will find her and give her specific instructions on various tasks I want her to do in your life. She will send you the music box on your tenth birthday with a note from me. You won't know what to think and by the time you hear this message, you won't remember that note. It will be the first thing that will make you question everything you've been told; merely holding onto it, your first form of defiance. I will also give her our family's pendant. It's a gaudy looking thing, with an amber cut to look like an eye, white feathers lining the chain, and a black scale suspended from it. She will give it to a friend of yours and he will lose it. The two of you will have been arguing some time before it and without the determination to finish the mission Morrigan gives him, he would leave you soon after your reunion.

"I fear telling you too much in case my glimpses of the future will also end up changing the future, so I will tell you only as much as I have so far, up to the point that you hold this stone in your hand. I can see you now, holding it in your left hand with a Pidove sitting on the desk, staring at you curiously. I don't know everything that you know, I can only guess on many things. If I had the time and ability to watch every moment of your life, believe me I would. Maybe you already know what I'm about to say? Maybe you've figured it out on your own by now, I don't know. So here's the true reason for my apology.

"I've tried to fight Zoroark for many years, but in the end the trap has snapped shut and my fate sealed and yours with it. If there's one way to weaken our cage, it's with what I'm about to do. I'm so sorry, that through all of my struggles, I was unable to save you. Your only saviors would be Morrigan and the friends you meet, not the mother whose face you would only ever see in photos and portraits. I'm sure that at some points you resent me for not taking your life as I originally planned, and for that I apologize and I apologize again for even considering such a thing. Mostly, I'm sorry for what I'm about to do. For me to save your life, to give you even the slightest chance, I must abandon you.

"I'll abandon you here with my maid while I flee like a coward in an attempt to lengthen my own life. I haven't told her what will happen next. It's a sacrifice that's necessary for my own selfish reasons. When Zoroark comes to investigate, he'll find the door broken into. He'll find me missing, you laying helpless on one of the pillows, and he'll kill my maid while a newborn watches. Hours later, I will die and you will live in a fear that you won't understand for many years."

Throughout the message, Aamira felt a strong surge of emotions that her mother had recorded along with her words. Anger at Zoroark, overwhelming grief, pride in Aamira herself, but never regret. Now was the first time that she ever felt her mother's regret.

"To you it might sound like I have all of the time in the world to record this, but I can record much more complex thoughts in a shorter time than what's available to me now. If I go through with this plan, I'll have to leave you soon and this is the only time I'll ever have to hold you like this. I'll miss all of your birthdays, I'll never comfort you when you're scared, I'll never argue with you or teach you anything about the kingdom. All of that will come from the person I hate more than anyone else. I must go now before the eclipse ends. Just know that no matter what happens, I will always—no… I can't say it. I'm sorry; I know how you must feel about me. Maybe this would have been an opportunity to redeem myself, but after all I've done and what I'm about to do, I don't deserve it. How about this then? No matter what happens, I'll be watching over you from the very beginning. Even after I die, I will protect you."

Aamira had no idea when she started crying. She was so confused now. What was she sad about? Her mother had been dead for years already. She felt furious too to hear her own mother confirm what her own eyes had shown her once when she looked into the Reflecting Mirror. How was she supposed to tell people that their beloved queen had abandoned her own child in an attempt to save her own life, which she knew from the start would fail? Who would believe such a thing? A part of her felt strangely happy though. She had heard her mother's voice. It sounded so familiar, but even if her memory hadn't been erased there was no way she could remember back that far. Her own mind was playing tricks on her out of some desperate wish to connect with the parent that she had never known.

Normally she would have been able to forgive someone for doing something like this if it was the only option. Something wasn't right about it through. They would have been hidden under the cover of the eclipse. Obviously she had time to find Morrigan and give her all of the stuff that would be sent to Aamira years into the future and give her instructions on when and where to send it. She had time. Why couldn't she have just picked up Aamira and taken her to Morrigan to have her raise her? Even if she couldn't or if she refused, surely her mother could have just left her on a doorstep somewhere where she would grow up in the country far away from the monster who now currently held her and her friends captive. She didn't have to know about her life and who her parents were. If she ever did find out, she probably would have gone to fight Zoroark anyway. Why then couldn't her mother have taken Aamira with her?

'She was anemic.' She thought. 'She wouldn't have been able to carry me and run at the same time. It's a miracle she could run at all. Come to think of it, where was Victini when all of this was happening? He can give someone energy just by touching them, so surely he could have helped. He probably would have been strong enough to carry a human infant himself if he had to.'

As much as she tried to reason with her overwhelming emotions, she couldn't do it. There was just no way she could forgive her mother. Maybe some day she would find some reason, but now wasn't the time. Aamira raised the stone above her hand and tried to throw it at the ground hard enough to break it. It would have been so satisfying to just watch it shatter. All she managed to do though was leave a dent in the stone floor.

"Are you alright, Boss?" Pidove asked.

Aamira wiped up her tears and turned away. "Yea, of course I am. Look, it's almost morning. You should probably get going soon."

Pidove shook his head. "No, can't do that. The person who gave me the message told me to be sure to get a reply from you. I have to act professional, don't I?"

Aamira had no idea what she wanted to say to Morrigan. Pidove decided that he would keep hiding down in the hidden room until she decided what to send back with him. Aamira climbed back up the ladder, closed the door, and crawled back into her bed. It was a comfortable bed at least and she really didn't mind sleeping in it, especially since she was so tired.

Before she knew it, it was noon. Aamira stretched as she woke up, but didn't bother getting out of bed. What was the point? Aside from dinner, there wasn't anything else to do. This wasn't the first time that she had woken up this late and she doubted it would be the last.

Aamira fell back to sleep several times before she eventually decided to get up. She walked over to the window and sat in the chair that she had moved next to it days ago. She looked down into the crowd in the streets. They looked microscopic from this height. If only she could make them see her somehow. Could Morrigan be down there looking up at her tower at the same time she was looking down at the streets?

'Why a tower?' Aamira wondered. 'Couldn't he have been more creative about it? Surely there are hidden rooms inside of some of the hidden passages. I guess he can't let people see the carriers flying in and out of an unusual window. He's very cautious.'

As usual, she sat there staring out of the window until around dinner. She took a bath because, well, why not, and put on a random dress that she pulled from the closet. They all looked more or less the same after a while.

What was Zoroark waiting for? When she had reappeared in this world, he didn't waste any time with an interrogation, but now he was waiting. She had a feeling it wasn't just to wait until Aamira was forced to become attached to him. He was up to something and she had a bad feeling about it.

She sat on the edge of her bed waiting for the message to come asking her to dinner. The sun was setting quickly, but no message ever came. Zoroark had told her that there were some nights that he wouldn't call her down for dinner. She didn't know then that it would mean not eating. It felt like he was changing all of the rules of the game, even though he never said that she would be allowed to eat other meals. That's all this really was though, just a game to him.

Aamira rolled over and laid down. No point in staying up if there was nothing else to do. She was almost asleep when she felt something move on the bed and push against her arm. She looked up and saw a Staraptor with an envelope in its beak. Aamira grabbed it and opened it. It was the letter asking her to dinner, as usual, just a lot later than normal. The Staraptor was about to fly off, but Aamira stopped it.

"Hey, hold on. I have a message for your boss. Tell him not to send me messages at ridiculously late hours like this." She said.

The Staraptor stopped just long enough to listen to her message and, without saying anything as usual, and jumped back out of the window. It took Aamira to realize what she had just done. Zoroark was getting cleverer. After weeks of silence, she had spoken to a carrier and gave a message to Zoroark through him. She had lost the game. It might have been a game that neither of them had come up with consciously, but they had played it anyway.

She was a little nervous about leaving her room now. Zoroark wasn't just going to let this relapse in her silence go without some response. It felt like she didn't have any choice but to talk to him now. She waited a few minutes before walking down to the dining room. Maybe there had been some kind of event where Zoroark had to eat with someone else and there really wasn't anything else to it strategy-wise. It was so hard to tell at times.

There he was, as usual, sitting at the far end of the table while still disguised as Xerxes. Aamira sat in her usual seat which was as far away from him as possible, but he wasn't having any of it.

"You're going to sit next to me this time. I thought our agreement was that you eat with me rather than in the same room as me."

Aamira got up, trying not to show her frusteration, and went to sit next to him. The dining room felt a lot longer than she had thought with Zoroark watching every step she took. She sat down next to him. Too close for her liking really, but what could she do about it?

"So you don't like having dinner this late?" Zoroark asked.

Aamira tried to stay silent. Whatever they were having, it wasn't at the table yet. It must have not been finished cooking.

"I personally prefer later dinners. This was around the time when my tribe would start the hunt. Did I ever tell you I had my own tribe before all of my own species… died out. Oh they were all loyal followers, mainly because they were hungry. I know, I know, it's going to take more to get through to you than just a piece of tuna every other night. Anyway, back to my old tribe. They didn't used to hunt humans, but they weren't aware of just how much fun hunting them could be. Or how good they taste. Would you like to know how to hunt humans?"

Aamira didn't reply. She was getting the feeling that all of the dinners before now had been some long complicated method of interrogation and that she just hadn't noticed until now. Zoroark continued. "Humans can't escape a Zoroark. Once they're in our illusions, they don't know the meaning of 'escape' anymore. The children are especially fun to hunt. I'll admit, the shout of some damsel in distress is a classic and it's always nice to see a big strong male be reduced to tears, but the screams of a child will always be the most delicious sound. Adults, they'll try to deny anything is happening, but children don't know the world yet at their age. Everything they think they know is suddenly turned upside-down, all of the monsters that mommy and daddy said don't exist suddenly do. Children who had been reassured through the years that the ground won't just suddenly disappear from under them suddenly find that it will. Quite entertaining, actually. Sometimes illusions are just a bonus. If you think about it, I would look quite terrifying to a child without an illusion. It's been a long time since I've eaten someone of that age, but back then I was sure that the more they screamed, the better they tasted."

What was the message here? Humans can't escape a Zoroark and children made a great dinner. Neither things sounded very good for Aamira, but it wasn't like Zoroark could just threaten to eat her whenever she didn't listen to him. Still, it was taking a long time for dinner to show up.

"Where's the food?" Aamira asked. She couldn't help it. It had been more than a full day since she had last eaten.

"Oh we're not eating tonight. I had a dinner meeting earlier and I didn't want to seem rude by not eating. Actually, when compared with how much food a Zoroark would normally kill, we don't really eat that much. Did you know that my species is one of the few that hunts for fun? The only others that I know of are minks and humans. Come to think of it, minks are quite tasty too."

"You seem to do a lot of things just for fun."

Zoroark laughed. "Yes, perhaps. Ever wonder why I always disguise myself as a human when we're alone? Well, first off I wouldn't want someone to walk in and see me. I'd probably have to kill then anyway if they saw you so I suppose it doesn't matter. Mainly it's just because I've taken a liking to this disguise. I haven't used it in years. You know what I really find interesting? Lucario. I haven't had much contact with them and I've unfortunately never had the chance to find out what they taste like. Cyndaquil and Quilava on the other hand are old favorites."

"You want me to ask, don't you?" Zoroark didn't reply, so Aamira decided to ask anyway. "How are they?"

Zoroark straightened up and locked his claws together. "Sick. Really sick. They refused to eat what they were fed; it's not as if I didn't feed them. I will admit they had to be… disciplined a few times for rowdy behavior. Mostly Houndoom's doing, not mine. I had to put a stop to it after a while when he started to obsess over hurting your Lucario. He doesn't like Lucario, if you hadn't guessed. The little one, Quill, mainly just watched. As much as I tried to discipline them, their bad behavior continued. Eventually I tried to punish them with illusions instead, but they were always able to fight them. That this one for instance. I came up with a scenario where you go to rescue them and the three of you escape. Afterwards, you're killed in some kind of accident. They seemed to believe it up to the point you died. Later they told me they were just going along with it to see how it would end. They knew from the start! I could hardly believe it."

Aamira smiled and looked away. She didn't want to see Zoroark's reaction. Apparently they were as bored as she was. She was sure Zoroark would fill her in on the details of their "punishments" later, but the two of them were tough. Aamira wasn't worried.

Zoroark continued. "They can't see through illusions like you. No, but they can see every tiny inconsistency with my illusions. The way they figured out the one I mentioned before was when I had your illusion kick down the door. Lucario had tried to do the same thing himself, but with that collar on he had no success. They noticed that the sound was slightly different when your illusion kicked it. I couldn't replicate the sound perfectly, but it still would have been close enough to fool anyone else. What did they do where they come from? Some kind of editors, maybe? Or detectives?"

Aamira stood up and turned to leave. "I'm not going to be interrogated like this."

She froze as Zoroark placed his paws on her shoulders with his claws scraping against her neck. It wasn't an uncommon threat, even though he would never personally hurt her. "I don't remember dismissing you."

Aamira grabbed Zoroark's paws and threw them off of her. She turned around to face him. "Well I remember agreeing to come to dinner and I don't see any food here. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd rather starve in the peace of my own room."

He grabbed her wrist as she started to turn away. "You don't even want to listen to what I have to say? Maybe you're used to living your life alone. Maybe by now you're even starting to enjoy it. The only reason your friends are together now is because they nearly lost their minds down in that dungeon on their own. And what about you? Do you want to see them again?"

"Are you actually making an offer?" Aamira asked.

"No offer. That is, I'm not asking for anything in return. I'm just worried about you, my dear. We can go right now if you want. I don't think they've eaten yet. I might be able to pull some strings and get all three of you served a good meal. I bet they'd like it at least. They haven't had nearly as much to eat as you have."

There was a reason that Zoroark was making this offer. He never did anything just because. Maybe if it gave him a chance to have some fun, but she had a feeling it was some other reason. Lucario and Quill each had their fears. Quill's was the thought of anything happening to Daisy and Lucario's was Mismagius returning. Lucario knew that Mismagius was gone though and Quill knew that Zoroark couldn't hurt Daisy, so both of them only had one vulnerability; Aamira. That's what Aamira was trying to do. Sure, this time it would be an innocent visit. Maybe even the next night and the night after. She might be allowed to see them as often as she wanted and then one night she would suddenly find that she was locked in her room for real that time while Zoroark took advantage of Quill and Lucario having no doubt let down their defenses by then.

Maybe they were even listening now. Maybe Zoroark suspected that Aamira might catch on so he had them hidden somewhere in this room so they could hear her refusal to see them. She could imagine how it would have happened. Zoroark would have a conversation similar with the one he was having with Aamira right now. He would say that Aamira didn't even care about them by this point. Maybe that was even why he suggested that she grew to like being alone. Quill and Lucario would probably deny it and Zoroark would make a bet. He could probably offer some high stakes since they would be sure she wouldn't refuse. In return if they won the bet he would agree to let Aamira go down as often as she wanted. At this point, if they really were hidden and watching somewhere, if Aamira refused they would lose the bet. Who knows what information they might have offered? If she agreed, Zoroark would admit defeat and allow Aamira to visit until he decided to replace her with an illusion.

It sounded like something Zoroark would do. He didn't care about winning unless it greatly impacted his overall goals, which in this case it wouldn't. He would lose as many times as he wanted if it would cause more fun later on. So what should Aamira do? Either way, she would lose. She did have an idea, but it was one that was hastily put together.

"So let me get this straight. You want me to go down into some dungeon to see my friends?"

Zoroark laughed. "And what's wrong with that? Wait, you're not scared of a little prison cell, are you? Too scared even to go down there to see your best friends?"

"I was locked in a room with Quill for days because we believed the person that did it was doing it with our best interests in mind. After we were rescued by Lucario and he explained that wasn't the case, we were caught again some time later and that time locked in a dungeon belonging to a mad scientist who did experiments on prisoners. I don't suppose you know what a bounty hunter is? It's a group from Quill's world who catches other pokemon and forces them to fight so they can make bets on them. I got caught by them. It wasn't fun. Then there was the time we were arrested. Why? Because someone robbed a store and made it look like we had done it and started up these rumors that we had been attacking random people. Maybe somehow in your twisted mind, you could actually bring yourself to enjoy something like that. I don't know how and I don't care to understand, but I am never stepping a single foot in a place like that again. Do I want to see them? Yes, of course I do. Bring them here. You said we could even eat together so why not?"

"And drag them up through the castle so they might be seen? Hiding one human would be easy, but I wouldn't be able to hide both of them at once. Well, I would be able to hide them, but that wouldn't stop anyone from stepping on your little friend in the narrow halls where they would have to walk side by side."

He was trying too hard to get Aamira down there. She was sure she was right about her theory and that he had already realized that he had failed to make her admit to not wanting to see them. His only option was to make sure she went down and to make it look natural, so he couldn't be dragging her down there while she was screaming and fighting from the fear she didn't even have.

"You're not going to keep me in suspense for too long, are you? I know I'll see them eventually anyway. How much longer are you going to keep me in suspense?"

Zoroark seemed to realize that Aamira had ended the conversation. It would look suspicious if he pressed the subject. Instead he settled for what Aamira thought was a minor attempt at revenge. "That all depends on our friend Darach."

He didn't say anything else and Aamira wasn't about to ask. She just turned and walked back up to her room. She was worried about Quill and Lucario and she couldn't help regretting her decision a little. They were sick and Zoroark had been trying to feed them meat and question them and reduced them to chew toys for Houndoom. Aamira hoped that he hadn't literally been using them as chew toys considering how big he was. Just thinking about it made her feet hurt. She usually forgot all about the burns until she started thinking about it.

It was late and Zoroark wouldn't call on her again. Then again, up until this point he hadn't called this late. Aamira went into the bathroom, turned on the hot tub which made a lot of noise, closed the door, and crawled under the bed.

She wished she still had her other clothes, not that they would have been comfortable in the Dellevan climate. At least it would make moving easier. She wondered if this was some subtle plan of Zoroark's to keep her from running if she had finally given up on her friends and decided to attempt an escape. She decided that if she ever did take over this country she would be the first queen to not have a signature dress used for fancy parties, important meetings or portraits.

Aamira climbed down into the hidden room. Her regular bedroom had started to feel too claustrophobic. She didn't care that this room was her mother's secret room, it was Aamira's secret now too and, more importantly, one that Zoroark actually didn't know about. Going down there made her feel even worse though. Pidove was asleep so she was all alone and she felt more comfortable about lowering her defenses. She sat at the desk and picked up the stone she had used earlier.

"Why did you leave me here…? Why did you abandon me if you knew you would die either way?" Aamira knew it was all for her. Somehow leaving Aamira with Morrigan or someone else might have compromised things. If that were the case her mother would have known. This way Aamira's future had been guaranteed at least. Still, she couldn't help but hate her.

She wanted to hear a voice though. Any voice. Pidove must have been exhausted though. She didn't want to wake him. Instead she listened to her mother on the stone again since she had no one else to turn to. At the very least they had a common enemy who Aamira wouldn't turn to.

"I fear telling you too much in case my glimpses of the future will also end up changing the future, so I will tell you only as much as I have so far, up to the point that you hold this stone in your hand." Of course she wasn't going to tell Aamira anything useful. No one ever did. Even one little hint would have helped. It was a hint. That's what it was. Her mother was afraid of changing the future, so she wouldn't tell her any specifics. That must mean that in the end everything would turn out okay, right? What other motives could she have, being dead? For the first time since she had been back here, she finally started to feel a little hope.

'She really did do everything for me…' She clutched the stone in her hand tightly and looked around at all of the other ones around the room. She had plenty of time to listen to them all, even if she couldn't read the books or the scrolls. First there was something she had to do though.

Aamira grabbed a pen, a bottle of ink, and a piece of parchment. She could understand why her mother liked the parchment even though paper was a lot cheaper. The hidden room was well insulated against noises from the outside. The sound of the pen scratching on it was relaxing. It was a short note. It would have to do until she decided whether she wanted to thank Morrigan properly. She opened the glass box of sand to dry up the ink and did a double-take as she reached for it. The glass distorted what was inside of it and the blue color altered the appearance of the sand's color. The sand was purple, except for in the center where yellow and blue sand were used to form the solar eclipse symbol of the Aura Readers. Aamira didn't know it was a symbol used in this world. Maybe it wasn't. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

Aamira gave the message to Pidove when he finally woke up and he left through the window. Aamira decided she would spend some time in the hot tub after all. She was in a surprisingly good mood.

Down in the lowest part of the castle, below even the dungeons, Zoroark watched the violent struggle of one of his many captives. There was a time watching someone struggle like this made him excited. He had grown bored of it though. It was more fun inventing creative new ways to torment them before making them beg him to end it.

He remembered with some fondness one particular idea he had once. One of his best ones, in his opinion. He came up with the worst terrors that particular person could ever imagine. The hallucinations started off slowly and Zoroark didn't show himself at first. At one point he started planting real objects for his target to find. At one point he was convinced that both of his parents were trying to kill him. He eventually decided to get them first before they had the chance. That was when Zoroark began to let his target catch a glimpse of his true self every once in a while. Little disasters would happen here and there and Zoroark would always be seen soon after. He finally understood that something else was out to get him. Maybe he even suspected that his parents had never been involved? Zoroark had helped to hide any evidence of the parents' deaths without his target even knowing, but he eventually allowed someone to find something. Led them to find something, in fact. His target was arrested and they noticed that he was slowly going mad. They thought he had killed his parents out of madness and nothing more. They tried everything; medication, therapy, quarantine, but the hallucinations would never stop because the hallucinations were real. The medicine was poison, the therapy was an interrogation, and quarantine was a prison which Zoroark could always enter.

Zoroark never said anything while in quarantine with him. He would just stare as his target cowered in fear. Eventually he had enough. With Zoroark secretly helping him, he managed to escape. Zoroark used his illusions to lead him out to the middle of the forest where he finally became aware of his hunter. No matter how far he ran though, he couldn't escape. Even though it felt like he was running in a straight line, he was actually running in circles with Zoroark effortlessly behind him the whole time. Zoroark finally spoke. He told the poor fool about how his species liked to eat anything because his species was one full of demons. Zoroark told him that he wouldn't eat him because it was more fun just to watch him squirm. He said that no one else had been so fun to mess with and Zoroark himself believed it. His pitiful prey asked for an end to his suffering. He didn't care what kind of end it would be; he didn't even specify. He just wanted it to end. That was when Zoroark got his best idea ever. He let his prey go.

Yes, he must have wished to be eaten. He could tell from the scream when he realized he had been spared. It was so loud that Zoroark figured that he must have torn up his vocal cords. It was such an appetizing sound, but the thought of being able to go back to this pitiful shell whenever he got bored and watch his madness from a distance was even more appetizing.

Zoroark was shaking from excitement. He gripped the rail separating him from the glass cage where the poor pokemon was still struggling pitifully. This wasn't the sort of thing he should be thinking about while staring at such a valuable hostage. Now every time he stared at it, he would want to eat it.

Darach glanced over at Zoroark from his desk. "Are you alright? You look excited about something."

"You've given me nothing to be excited about." The words came easily and without much thought. Zoroark knew they would still have a great effect though. This human was a weak one; weak minded in spite of his intelligence. "Just hungry."

"After that dinner you're still hungry? I would think a feast like the one you enjoyed earlier would be enough even to satisfy the bottomless stomach of a Zoroark."

"I hope you enjoyed the dinner. I didn't have to invite you, but I wanted everyone to meet the scientist who would bring an era of clean technology to the world. How else do you expect to get any funding without that sort of publicity? I certainly won't be paying you with the results I've gotten from you so far. If I don't get any good news soon, that might very well have been your last dinner."

"I understand. I'm working as fast as I can and all of the sources that I found in the ruins say it can be done. It will just take some time to find a strong enough conductor and an equally powerful insulator. I'm working as hard as I can and nearly non stop with little to no food or sleep."

Zoroark's ears twitched unpleasantly and the sound of a crunch. He turned to see that Darach was still eating one of the Apricorns he had crushed up. "Speaking of food, how can you eat that junk? My 'bottomless stomach of a Zoroark' can't even stomach that garbage."

"They're bitter and a pain to break open, but it helps me think."

Zoroark turned to leave. "I hope they do help you think. So far I've seen no evidence of it."

Zoroark wished he would hurry. How long would he have to wait for the fun to begin? He couldn't stand the thought of that child up in her room with no company. No matter what she wanted to believe, he really did care for her. At the very least, things would be boring without the mind of someone slightly less predictable to mess with.


	25. Chapter 25 Interrogation

The first few weeks were almost thrilling compared to the months that followed. Aamira had settled into an uneasy routine that mainly revolved around avoiding Zoroark. She started to notice that he wanted her to come to dinner earlier and earlier each night and leave progressively later. She realized that he was just trying to gain her trust or maybe he was just stalling while Darach finished whatever it was that he was working on. It became so monotonous that Aamira would have lost track of time if it hadn't been for the moon. On the night of the new moon, Zoroark didn't want to let her out of his sight even though he knew she couldn't call on Darkrai for help. Those nights were torture. On the full moon he more or less just left her alone, which meant no food but she didn't really care.

Sometimes he would let her skip dinner although he usually strongly insisted that she show up. Once he let her do it because she had gotten a bad case of food poisoning. The food after that always tasted a little different. Aamira couldn't figure out if it was because being sick had affected her taste buds or because that cook wasn't around anymore.

Where Zoroark wasn't concerned, everything else had fallen into a pattern as well. Aamira would normally sleep through the day, wait for her invitation to dinner, and go back up to her room as soon as it was over. After watching the sunset from the window, she would crawl into bed, pull the curtains around it closed just in case, and sneak out on the side opposite the window to go into the hidden room underneath the bed.

She had figured out her mother's sorting system quickly enough, so she found all of the seer's stones in order. There was even a collection of unused ones that Aamira had started to use to record her own thoughts. It was harder to do than she thought it would be, but how many years had her mother been doing it before being able to record half an hour's worth of information with just a second-long nudge from her mind?

Soon Aamira was able to do it too and some of the stones her mother left even helped her. She left a few hints on how using the stones seemed to help her focus her aura more precisely, which was something that humans naturally had trouble with. Aamira did find that she was able to concentrate easier after mastering using them, which only took a few weeks. She started to regain her ability to sense auras too, to some extent. She started off by just being able to tell the difference between her mother's aura, her own, and a stone with nothing in it yet. At this point, if standing in the center of her room, her range didn't even extend to the walls. At the very least, no one would be able to sneak up on her.

In spite of the few meals that she had been given during dinner, they were large meals and Aamira noticed when she was starting to put on a little weight. She started spending most of her time alone exercising. Zoroark already had too many advantages, so she didn't want to give him another one. Between exercising during the day when she wasn't sleeping, reading the stones and using them to train with her aura at night, and her evening battles with Zoroark throughout their twisted conversations, Aamira was actually getting stronger than she had ever been before as a human. It didn't help keep away the boredom though. She almost wished that Darach would hurry up as much as Zoroark obviously did.

One night she got too bored for her own good. She had to do something rebellious at least. That night she did something that she never did anymore: she left her room on her own free will. It wasn't to go visit Zoroark, which was something that he was probably expecting by this point. It was actually to leave a trail of unconscious guards around the doors they were guarding. It was right after the shift had changed, so it took a couple of hours for anyone to notice. In that time, Aamira was able to go wherever she wanted as long as she stayed inside the castle.

Zoroark was less than happy when he figured out what had happened. He had found the guards himself while going to pay a surprise visit and tracked Aamira down by her scent. It wasn't a hard trail to follow since he knew her scent so well, but the number of places she had gotten to since anyone directly under his command had seen her was astonishing. Someone must have noticed her in that time. Eventually he did find her passed out just inside of the main entrance hall with a note in her hand.

Zoroark unfold it and read untidy scrawl that only seemed to be getting worse with her age. "Hey, you old fox. You kept me waiting and I got bored again. This letter is just a precaution in case you keep me waiting so long that I actually fall asleep before you show up. If so, please don't wake me up. I've had enough disappointments in one night and I don't want to lose any sleep over someone who can't even keep track of one of their own hostages for two hours."

Zoroark carried Aamira up to her room, regretting that he had specifically said that her friends would die the second she stepped outside of the castle. She had obviously remembered, which was why she stopped right by the main entrance instead of going any further. He couldn't do anything that severe or he would probably never get any information out of her. Instead he left her a note in return to inform her that there was a food shortage down in the dungeons and that as a result she wouldn't be having dinner for the next three days.

Aamira got the message easily enough. Zoroark meant that he was going to starve her friends a little more than he already had and that she wasn't going to get any food for the next three days. She had never seen something like food as being so precious before. She also discovered that her door had been locked and that the key she had used before wouldn't work for it. There must have been a second lock on the outside that Zoroark had left in case something like this happened. She also noticed that the guard rotations had changed. Now they didn't change all at once every two hours. Each one stood guard for only an hour before being replaced and the times they were relieved from duty was different depending on which area they were guarding. It wouldn't change the outcome if she decided to knock them all out again, but she wouldn't go unnoticed for two hours like she had before. For a while, at least until she got bored again, she decided that she would behave herself.

Those three days were some of the worst. Aamira tried to keep up with her exercise, but she just couldn't do it without the food to give her energy. She laid in bed with her stomach growling at her like some poor mutt begging its master for even the smallest scrap of meat.

She had nothing and no energy to do anything with, so she spent the time laying in bed thinking of other acts of rebellion. Even if she was too weak from hunger to do any of them, it was still enough to keep her occupied for a while. She thought of tying all of the bed sheets together and throwing them out the window before hiding in the closet to make it look like she had tried to jump. She thought about barricading the door and window to keep anyone from getting in, even though Zoroark or Houndoom would have been able to break in easily. Maybe she could make paper airplanes and write messages on them and throw them out the window or at the very least throw something heavy at the flying guards outside. That would help with her upper body strength if it didn't accomplish anything else.

Finally her foodless sentence to her room was up. When the fourth night came, she was starving and desperately wanted food. She waited and waited, but no messenger ever came. She tried the door, but it was still locked. Feeling defeated, Aamira crawled back into bed. This wasn't like him. If he said three days, on the fourth she should get food. Something must have happened.

Hunger and uneasiness made sleep difficult that night. She kept waking up at the slightest noises. Every time the guards would change, she would hear their feet shuffling. Every time the clock tower rang, she would nearly jump out of bed. Eventually she became so tired that not even the clock tower would wake her up, but something else did.

She knew Zoroark's energy well enough by now. It always made her feel like there was some giant creature standing in front of her, glaring down at her hungrily. This time was no different. Aamira's eyes shot open, but she didn't dare move. She didn't want Zoroark to know that she could sense him. He was already inside her room and was walking towards her. Now that she was awake, she could hear his hasty footsteps as his claws smacked against the hard floor.

Aamira stayed petrified in the same spot even when Zoroark was standing directly behind her. He grabbed her shoulder, but not hard enough to hurt. It was more like how a parent would gently shake their child awake for school in the morning.

"Nap time's over. Let's go see your friends."

Aamira turned to look at him and sat up. Since she had been expecting dinner that night, she had actually bothered to get dressed. After realizing that she wouldn't be eating, she didn't even bother to change. At least it meant she wouldn't be kept in suspense any longer than necessary.

While walking down a hall that Aamira wasn't familiar with, she glanced at Zoroark's hands as if expecting to see some sort of food. She was disappointed again. They stopped in front of a door and the second Zoroark unlocked and opened it, Aamira completely forgot that she was tired or hungry.

"Quill! Lucario!" Without hesitating, Aamira ran towards them.

Quill and Lucario each hesitated for half a second, as if trying to decide whether this was their real friend, but quickly ran towards her and met her half way. The three of them clung onto each other for the longest time. Aamira noticed just from touching them that they were both drastically underfed compared to when she last saw them. Quill's cuts that he had gotten from Zoroark had healed over completely, and it didn't look like any other injuries they might have had were bad enough to potentially scar over. They were thin and weak but otherwise looked unharmed.

"Are you done yet?" Zoroark asked.

Aamira looked back at Zoroark, but moved closer to her friends. She wouldn't be separated from them again. They seemed equally unwilling to let Aamira go.

"Resorting to such juvenile antics, are we?" A familiar black mass walked out from a secret passage hidden behind a tapestry. With a swipe of his paw, Houndoom separated Lucario and Quill from Aamira. He wound his tail around them like a snake. It didn't come close to touching them, but they were smart enough to know that stepping anywhere past his tail would mean trouble.

"Hello Houndoom. I haven't seen you in a while." Aamira said in the most polite voice that she could muster. She thought of doing a curtsey but thought that it might be a little too over the top if she did.

Houndoom smirked and drummed his tail against the ground. "It has been a while. Might I add that you have some adorable rodent-siblings."

Zoroark cleared his throat to get Aamira's attention and pointed with one claw towards a chair in the center of the room. It was the only piece of furniture not counting the tapestries covering three walls. The only other object was something in front of the chair covered with a dark colored tarp. Aamira already knew what it was and she wasn't looking forward to the tarp being taken off.

Aamira walked over and sat down. She felt strangely exposed with both Zoroark and Houndoom there. Somehow Quill and Lucario being there made it worse. After what had happened during the game she and Zoroark had played for them, it was embarrassing just to make eye contact.

Zoroark walked up behind Aamira and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Now why don't you tell me in advance how stubborn you'll be this time? I've created a schedule that I will be keeping and the number of scars on your friends will be greatly reduced if you decide to cooperate."

"Don't tell him anything, Aamira!" Quill shouted.

Houndoom cut him off with a sharp bark and lunged towards him, but didn't actually touch either of them.

"So what will it be? Will I have to resort to stricter tactics, or will you behave yourself?" Zoroark dug his claws into Aamira's shoulders. She tried not to react, but it was so sudden and he would normally never hurt her. She just wasn't expecting it.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't hurt her!" Lucario tried to run to Aamira's side, but Houndoom quickly subdued him.

Aamira cringed as Zoroark's claws dug in a little deeper. "As long as the two of you behave, I probably won't. That first time was for your friend there speaking up earlier." This was getting to be too much. Aamira grabbed his arms in an attempt to throw them off of her, but he was too strong and she was half starved. "Now look what you've done. She's in even more pain because you spoke up. Understand how it works now?" Zoroark let go of Aamira and let her rub her shoulders between each of her pathetic sobs. "The same goes for your two friends. If they speak up… No, they won't speak up. If you don't do as I say, what you just felt will be their perception of normal after what they feel."

Aamira glanced over to Quill and Lucario. They both looked so determined even after everything they had all been through. She didn't want to listen to Zoroark, they didn't want her to listen to Zoroark, but she couldn't let Zoroark hurt them.

Aamira avoided eye contact while Zoroark walked around to face her. "I-I'll do my best…"

"Good. Your best is all I want as long as I get results." Zoroark walked back behind Aamira. She couldn't see him without turning, but she realized what had happened when she heard the lock on the door click. They were going to be stuck in here for a long time. He walked back to the object that the tarp was hiding and ran his claws over the fabric. "I want you to find me the key. I know you don't know where it is and I know you're capable of finding it. When you tell me where it is, you can all leave this room unharmed, or mostly unharmed in your case, you will all be fed, and I might even let you go if I can't find any more use for you." With a flick of one of his claws, he pulled the tarp off of the mirror.

Aamira instinctively flinched back and snapped her eyes shut. She felt one of Zoroark's claws brush against one of her injured shoulders. "If that's your best I suggest you try harder."

Aamira pried her eyes open, but she couldn't stop shaking. Many people believed that the entire world could be seen through the eyes of an Aura Reader. This mirror was supposedly created with that purpose. When an Aura Reader stared into their own eyes, it could create visions of everything in existence, both things in this or any other world, or in this or any other time. With all of those things being seen at once, of course it would be painful. Infinite black voids and powerful lights being shone into a person's eyes at the same time weren't exactly good for someone's eyes. As it turns out, it doesn't have to be an Aura Reader that does it to see into the mirror; humans all apparently have access to such knowledge and therefore any human could do it. Only an Aura Reader, however, could do something like this without going completely blind at a glance.

Now that Aamira's eyes were open again, she couldn't shut them. It felt as if some powerful force was keeping them open as she stared into her reflection. This was common, but still disturbing. How she wasn't afraid of her own reflection by now, she had no idea.

'I don't even know what he wants with this key. If I could just find some information first.'

She had tried before with no success. This time was no different. Maybe it was better that way. If she knew exactly what she was trying to find, she might lose her nerve and there was no telling what Quill and Lucario would be put through because of it. She kept looking through the void of infinite sights and colors hoping that something would jump out at her. Unfortunately something did. It felt as though she were back in the Desolate Chasm standing on the edge of the cliff. She was looking down into the pair of yellow eyes that had stared up at her before. Though still shrouded in mist, these were different from the last time. They weren't the eyes of some hibernating creature; these were the eyes of a creature that was now fully awake.

Aamira managed to snap her eyes shut again. She put the palms of her hands over her eyes in an attempt to soothe them. They had been watering so much. There was no telling how long she had been staring at her reflection with her eyes open. Her back was hurting. She guessed nearly an hour. She wanted to shout that it was awake, but that would bring up too many questions. It was hard enough not to talk about every little thing she saw in that mirror.

"Nothing yet?" Zoroark asked. "That's fine, we have all night. Please continue."

"You've got to be kidding. Just give me a minute…" Aamira was exhausted and her eyes were hurting. She forgot how difficult this had been before. 'I'm hungry too…'

"Perhaps now would be a good time to explain the schedule I've come up with for these little sessions of ours. In the first part, hopefully, you'll be willing enough to do as you're told to prevent any physical harm being done to your friends. I could use illusions, but you'll be able to see the physical effects easier. If that fails, I have much stronger methods. I've discovered a way to alter a person's memory entirely. When I'm done with them, they won't even recognize you as an enemy. You'll have to watch as they obey my every word and pay no attention to you. Maybe they will pay attention. I might have them say and do the worst things imaginable all for your enjoyment. Maybe you'll start to think that they aren't your friends anymore. You'll be right. However, I have doubts that you'll be able to break your bonds with them completely. That's why if you still refuse, I'll give their memories back before their deaths so that they'll recognize you at the very last second and you will in turn recognize them."

"Is that all?" Aamira asked. "I thought you would have come up with something more exciting than that. Using up both of your hostages like that right away? That's not like you."

"You don't think using your own friends as puppets would be fun? We must have different senses of humor after all. Maybe you just doubt that I can. I'll be honest with you though; I'm losing my patience. For someone who has lived as long as I have, this isn't a feeling I'm used to, nor do I enjoy it. I don't care what happens to you. After they're gone it's true I'll have no hostages. Instead you'll take on the pain that would have otherwise been divided up between the three of you. If my guess is correct, not even the most painful and crippling of injuries will make you submit even by that point. You will though."

"Dare I ask how?"

"Because I'll only agree to kill you so you can join your friends after you tell me what I need to know."

He was serious. This was the first time Zoroark had ever seriously threatened her life. It wasn't meant to be as a punishment either but as a reward for finally doing as she was told. It was the only way she would be reunited with Quill and Lucario in the very end.

"I'll be honest with you again; I don't like lying, as you know. I don't want to resort to that final option. Compared to most other humans I've met in my lifetime, you actually interest me somewhat. It would be such a waste."

Aamira took a deep breath and looked back into the mirror. He had tried bribing her before, but she never went for anything he said. She was afraid that if he carried out his other threats, this reward would be one she wouldn't want to refuse.

The second time looking through all of the information was a little easier. It had probably been more difficult the first time since she had been out of practice and knew what was coming. Still, how anyone would ever be able to distinguish one piece of information from another at such a speed she didn't know.

There was something in front of her. It looked almost like the way out of a tunnel. There was something there that was calling her forward. Whatever it was that Zoroark was looking for, it was just past the mouth of the tunnel. If she could just find out what it was, they could all go free. At the very least none of them would be hurt and they'd probably be fed.

"Stop!" a voice shouted in her head. Aamira closed her eyes as quickly as she could. It was the normal voice that she heard whenever using her Aura Reading abilities. It was her own voice, but it sounded stronger than it normally did. Part of her did know what was past the mouth of the cave, but she wouldn't be able to know for sure until she saw it. That part of her that knew what it was already didn't want her to see it. She was scared and it was strange both knowing and not knowing what it was at the same time.

Zoroark was sitting close by and was waiting to question her the second her eyes opened. "What did you see?"

Aamira was exhausted by this point and was trying to support herself by clutching onto her knees with her hands. That hardly did anything though since her arms, like the rest of her, were shaking so badly. "A tunnel, I think."

Zoroark stood up and pulled Aamira to her feet as if trying to both intimidate and steady her at the same time. "You think? What else did you see?"

"Nothing. I was in a tunnel or something and there was a bright light. I didn't see anything else."

Quill and Lucario had been watching horrified the whole time. Lucario was able to see Aamira's energy fluctuating dangerously every once in a while when she looked into the mirror. Neither of them could understand how she hadn't lost her mind doing this or why Zoroark was making her continue without any breaks. They both wanted it to stop. They needed to say something, but they couldn't. In this situation, they were both completely useless.

"You need to look again."

"No!" Aamira pushed Zoroark away and would have fallen over the chair in her panic if he hadn't caught her. "Not again! I won't do it again!"

After a brief struggle, Zoroark managed to push Aamira back into the chair. "Things would be so much easier for both of us if you cooperated. I know what it is. You don't believe I have the ability to alter a person's memory so you think my threats are empty. I had every intention of doing a demonstration tonight because I knew it would come to this."

Darach came walking out from behind the same tapestry that Houndoom had emerged from. He was carrying some kind of red and white sphere, the red half of which was transparent. There was something inside of it, but it was too dark in the room and the creature was too small to see clearly.

"I'm sorry about the wait. Perfecting this sort of technology isn't easy. Can you believe I used Apricorns to start off? The prototype was basically just a hollowed out Apricorn shell with a knob used for a trigger. It broke easily and it was an inconvenience to open, but this one's perfect." Darach pressed the switch at the front and the top of the sphere swung open. Aamira, Lucario, and Quill jumped as a light shot out from it and materialized in the form of a brown pokemon that floated in the air.

"So it will listen to orders now?" Zoroark asked.

"Yes, all of the tests were successful. Of course, I couldn't have done this without Aamira's help. She described a way that a pokemon could be sealed inside of a pocket dimension. I thought that if it worked with a gem as impure as Quartz, it would probably work with Leuminite too. So now any pokemon I put in here will not only be strengthened by the Leuminite but they'll be easy to control."

Aamira stared into the eyes of the pokemon floating in front of her. It looked sad, like it didn't want to follow Darach's orders, but somehow the machine he had trapped it inside of made it impossible for it to disobey.

"What's your name?" Aamira asked the pokemon.

"…Beheeyem…" the pokemon answered with a nervous glance towards Darach. Beheeyem could have been any age. Aamira couldn't tell. She could tell that there was some strange, otherworldly power in this pokemon though.

Darach rubbed the surface of the sphere and turned it to look at his reflection. "Oh if only I could make Unfezant as obedient as this pokemon. She refuses to stay inside of one of these. It doesn't matter though. Beheeyem, rewrite the Lucario's memory first as we discussed."

Beheeyem cast an apologetic look to Aamira before turning to Lucario and raising his arm in the air. Lucario flinched as Beheeyem lifted him with some psychic force and floated over to him, placing his palm on Lucario's head. Lucario struggled futilely as the lights on Beheeyem's hands started to flash in some unrecognizable pattern. Lucario shouted, more in frusteration than from any pain, as he realized that he wouldn't be able to resist it. In only a few seconds, Beheeyem dropped Lucario back onto the ground.

Zoroark ran over to Lucario and helped him up gently. "Are you alright?"

Lucario groaned and rubbed his forehead. "What just happened?"

"You collapsed." Zoroark said. "I've told you before, you need to take time off of your patrols. I don't care how good you are at using your aura; no one can go for nights straight without any rest. Go lay down somewhere; we can finish without you."

Lucario looked uncertain for a second, but he stood up straight and in a few seconds it looked like nothing had happened. "I don't want to stop in the middle, but if you say I should…"

"Maybe you should stay behind tomorrow after all." Houndoom suggested.

Aamira had no idea what any of them were talking about, but she guessed this had something to do with the memories they all agreed on giving Lucario. They probably had a whole script planned for Quill too. What could Aamira do? Start screaming like a lunatic in an attempt to explain that everything Lucario knew was a lie?

"No, I'll be fine by tomorrow morning. I just need a few hours to rest." Lucario turned away without even looking towards Aamira and walked out through the entrance hidden behind the tapestry.

Aamira stared at the tapestry where Lucario had disappeared. It had actually worked. Lucario wasn't the one she had known anymore. She tried to get Beheeyem's attention, but he was ignoring her completely. Quill looked terrified too. Lucario was a canine and a species that both Zoroark and Houndoom were interested in so he had enough value to keep around at least. What would they do to Quill? What would they turn him into through a simple manipulation of his memory?

"Do you believe me now?" Zoroark asked Aamira, who was still stunned by what had just happened. "I suggest you do as you're told unless you want to lose your other friend too. We're going to finish this tonight. Now look into the mirror and find me that key."

"No!" Aamira hid her eyes behind her hands. "I can't do it, I've really tried! I can't do it anymore. Please, just don't make me look into that mirror again."

Zoroark sighed and shook his head. He glanced at Darach who then gave the order to Beheeyem to modify Quill's memory. Beheeyem flung Quill into the air and held him in place with his psychic powers. Beheeyem approached with his hand outstretched. The lights were already flashing as if he just wanted to get it over with.

"Stop!" Aamira jumped out of the chair and wrapped her arms around Zoroark the same way she had done with Quill and Lucario only a few hours ago. "Please, don't take them away from me… I'll do whatever you want, just leave them alone."

Beheeyem stopped uncertainly and looked to Darach for instructions. He hadn't changed any of Quill's memories yet, but Quill was still being suspended helplessly in the air. Zoroark smiled in a way that actually looked genuine. He wrapped his own arms around Aamira in a way that probably could have been interpreted as some sort of loving embrace if it had been anyone else. "I know you will. You'll do whatever I tell you like a good girl, won't you? I'll give you one more chance, but that's it."

Aamira stepped away from Zoroark and turned back towards the mirror. She was terrified of opening her eyes, but there wasn't anything she wouldn't do for Quill and Lucario. She opened her eyes, no longer caring how what she saw would affect her.

She was staring back at the tunnel again. Finding it had been easier this time. The reason Zoroark had half starved her before this and hadn't allowed her to take any breaks was probably because it was easier to find something like this subconsciously without the energy to focus on everything else. Again her thoughts were screaming at her to look away. Maybe she would go blind even if she was an Aura Reader. She didn't care though. Ignoring her own voice suddenly became a lot easier and she was able to extend her vision past the exit of the tunnel with no problems. There was a flash of red somewhere in the distance. For only a fraction of a second from her point of view, Aamira was able to glimpse everything that Zoroark was attempting to do along with the end result. In that brief glimpse, she knew exactly where the key was.

"So that's it! That's where it is!" Destiny was standing in front of her. Aamira was in the place she had always gone in her mind. She wasn't sure, but it looked like looking into the mirror had made her lose consciousness.

"Did you see it too?" Aamira asked, still panic stricken from what she had seen.

"Sure I did. What's your point?" Something was wrong. She seemed too restrained compared to normal. She was up to something.

"What's my point? I've got to wake up and warn everyone. Surely not even you would want that kind of outcome."

"Of course I do. It's what I was created for, remember? Now we don't need you anymore. I'll go back in your place and tell him everything since you won't." Destiny ran towards Aamira in an attempt to catch her off guard. It didn't work. Aamira's strength from before the four days with no food returned to her in her mind. For once they were able to fight equally.

There was a point when it looked like Destiny would get the advantage. The two of them had wandered dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, but it looked like even she was scared of the thing circling down below them. Aamira tried to use this to her advantage by staying as close to the cliff as possible without being thrown off herself.

Destiny tried to use Aura Sphere in her desperation, but Aamira didn't move. She remembered her saying that it wasn't capable of hurting anyone when used by a human. She was obviously weakening if she was resorting to weak intimidation tactics like that. Destiny rushed towards her, but Aamira managed to side step her and trip her at the same time. She grabbed onto the edge of the cliff and the thing circling below flinched back.

"Well would you look at that. Not even a giant ugly monster wants to be near someone like you." Aamira wasn't sure why she wanted to say something like this. It might have just been built up frusteration from being treated the same way by Zoroark for the last few months.

"Yea, it's sad." Destiny pulled herself up and rubbed the arm she had used to grab the edge of the cliff at the last second. "It's sad that even you hate yourself so much."

Aamira stared at her double with some strange heightened interest compared to how she felt before. She didn't hate Destiny, but she didn't care for her either.

"What are you doing?" Destiny asked when she realized Aamira was staring longer than normal. "Whatever you're doing, stop it! Stop staring at me like that!"

"I don't hate you…"

Aamira tried to approach Destiny, but Destiny quickly turned and vanished. "I don't need your pity…"

Aamira sighed and tried to calm down. Maybe they had at one point been one person, but she still couldn't understand Destiny. She had other things to worry about though. Aamira's head was pounding and she was having trouble concentrating, but she had to wake up. Something terrible was about to happen.

Zoroark continued to shake Aamira in an attempt to get her to regain consciousness as he had been for hours now. No matter what he did, she just continued to stare straight off into the distance. The mirror was covered now, but that didn't make any difference.

"Just leave her alone, you're not helping anything!" Quill shouted at him.

"Quiet!" Zoroark growled back before turning his attention back to Aamira. "You'd better wake up. I won't have you losing your mind before you get the chance to tell me what you saw."

"Zoroark…?" It felt strange to say his name somehow. Quill took a step closer and Houndoom didn't attempt to stop him. He wasn't stupid enough to get too close. "I think you should just let her rest for a while, even after she wakes up. If she still doesn't have that information you need, don't make her do that again."

Zoroark straightened up and turned towards Quill. It was a reasonable thing to be worried about, but Quill was afraid he might have stepped over some sort of boundary with something he said. Zoroark started to walk towards him, but he stopped when he felt something touch his hand. He looked down to see that Aamira had grabbed his hand, not tightly enough to hold him back but enough to get his attention. She was weak and exhausted, so she wouldn't have the strength to stop him if Zoroark were really intent on hurting Quill.

"What did you see?" Zoroark asked her again. She was still staring off blankly as she had been, so he didn't even notice when she regained consciousness.

It was a few minutes before Aamira finally responded. Zoroark had started to think that she was still unconscious after all. "Stop what you're doing… You have to stop…"

"What did you see?" Zoroark repeated. His patience was thinning, but she didn't look like she was entirely there at the moment either. "Did you see the key?" no response. "Does anyone get hurt?" Aamira nodded slowly in a way that wouldn't have even been noticed by anyone not paying close attention. "Is it me?" Aamira didn't respond for a moment. She finally shook her head. So Zoroark wouldn't be hurt in his attempt. "That's fine then. What did you see?"

Aamira tightened her grip around Zoroark's hand. Where she managed to get that strength from was a mystery. "It's dying. It's already dying, you have to stop. Just leave it alone! Let it die! Just let it die in peace!"

Zoroark pulled his hand away and grabbed into Aamira's arms. She had started to scream when attempting to explain what she saw. She was becoming hysterical from whatever it was she saw. For the first time he could remember, Zoroark felt… scared? No, he was excited. Whatever it was, he wanted to know.

"Where is the key?" he asked again

Aamira continued to stare off into space for a while, before looking up at Zoroark. She seemed to be noticing him for the first time since regaining consciousness. "Key… Right… I forgot."

Zoroark straightened up and extended his arm as if about to attack her, but he was cut off by Quill's terrified scream. He had almost lost control again. The injury probably would have been worse than last time. She couldn't have really forgotten, could she? But did that mean that she forgot to look after what she had seen, or did she actually manage to find it but forget where it was hidden? He was able to calm himself down with this possibility. They had made some progress.

"What will we do now?" Darach asked. "The Quilava's right. She can't look through that mirror again."

"She'll be okay to do it once more after some food and rest." Zoroark said. "We're just going to end up going around in circles if we start over each time though. Maybe there would be a way to combine the water from the Eye of the Moon with the mirror. The water wasn't enough on its own, but with her abilities…"

"Hang on." Darach said. "How many years did it take you to master using that water? You don't really expect her to get it on her first try. There's no way she'll be sane enough to speak afterwards, even if she does find it."

"I'll use the water myself in combination with her looking through the mirror. She'll be the one looking through the mirror, so I won't go blind from it. That way I'll be able to see what she sees and we won't have to worry about her being in no condition to talk about it later."

"You can't do that!" Quill shouted. "You're just going to do something like that knowing it will make Aamira go insane? No, you can't!"

A single glance from Zoroark made Quill go quiet. If Aamira was in any condition to even register that she was being hurt, Zoroark would have taken these outbursts out on her. Quill could understand from just the glance, without him needing to explain further, that Zoroark just didn't care. As long as he got the information he wanted, nothing else mattered. He didn't even care if his own partner would lose her mind.

'I can't believe it's actually someone like him…' Quill thought. No, Quill was Aamira's real partner. Quill was the one who cared about her at least. He didn't need some weird dragon powers to connect them.

Zoroark turned back towards Aamira and picked her up. Quill thought he heard him say something like "Such a waste" as he did.

Quill would have given anything to stay with Aamira. He fought to stay by her side when Zoroark lifted her up and carried her towards the door. Houndoom and Beheeyem had to work together in order to subdue him, even with the collar blocking out most of his power. He knew they didn't care about hurting him now. They only had to keep him unharmed for the most part until Aamira was rested enough. He didn't care. All he could do was watch as the person he cared the most about was carried off, half conscious, back to the prison she had been stuck in for months already.

He continued to struggle in vain, stopping only when Aamira spoke again. Aamira clutched Zoroark's fur in her fists in order to get his attention. He stopped instantly to hear what she had to say. "Do you pity me…?"

Zoroark hesitated for a few seconds before carrying Aamira out of the room. Quill had no idea what Aamira had meant by what she said. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all, considering the state she was in. He had given up his attempts at resistance and allowed Houndoom to lead him off without protest. He was sure of it; they weren't just empty words. How after all of this could Aamira in any way feel some sort of attachment to Zoroark?


	26. Chapter 26 Escape

Aamira wasn't sure how long she was asleep. When she woke up, she was still exhausted and could barely move. It took her a moment to realize where she was or remember what had happened. Memories of what had happened to Lucario and Quill finally returned. There was already no saving Lucario. Was Quill alright at least?

Aamira's whole body felt stiff and heavy. She managed to push herself into a sitting position. Her shoulders still hurt, but the injuries had been treated. She tried to rub her head to get rid of the headache while she tried to figure out exactly what had happened. She had looked through the mirror as Zoroark had told her to and she saw something. She only had a vague idea of what she had seen. It felt like she had seen a year's worth of events within a split second, which wasn't impossible. It was too much information to contain though, so now it was jumbled up and hard to decipher. It was like having a dream and waking up to find that after a few minutes she couldn't remember a thing about it. There had been a flash of red light. That was all she could remember.

What had happened when she stopped looking through the mirror was all a blur. She remembered Quill shouting and Zoroark. She hoped he wouldn't be punished for it. She remembered Zoroark thinking through his next plan. Since she was only at this point starting to regain her senses, it wouldn't surprise her if she really did go insane after looking through the mirror again.

'If this was what life was like before, I think I'm starting to understand what it would be like to want to erase my own memory…'

She looked around, as if expecting to see Zoroark standing somewhere nearby. She was alone though and felt strangely disappointed about it. Of course he was doing it again. For all she knew, Quill and Lucario were already gone. She only had him now. It didn't matter though. He was going to sacrifice her sanity to find something that would result in some sort of disaster that she didn't even remember all of the details of. Why should she be loyal to someone like that?

'My emotions don't matter much, do they? It doesn't matter if I'm happy or miserable. I'm starting to really understand that now. It doesn't matter if Zoroark's able to manipulate me if I'm not going along with this for some reason other than my emotions. Thinking along those lines, I'd even be able to sacrifice Quill and Lucario if I had to.'

Of course she wasn't about to do something like that. All she could do was convince herself that Zoroark would never completely win. Maybe that's why she wouldn't ever turn back into a pokemon. Everything she had said to Cobalion had just been for show. She could never really act on any of her resolutions.

Aamira was shaken out of her trance by the sound of the doorknob turning. Maybe just being conscious was enough to be considered strong enough to look into the mirror again. The door opened and Aamira had to squint to try to make out who it was through the light that flooded in. Her room had been almost completely dark, so she hadn't noticed until this point how blurred her vision was. At the very least she could tell that it was a human figure, not Zoroark.

"Who's there?" Aamira asked.

"Can you not see me? Are your eyes alright?" Darach walked inside and came close enough so that she could see him more clearly.

"Get out." She said flatly. She would rather be blind than even look in this traitor's general direction.

"Well that's not very nice. And here I was going to help you. Do you remember what Zoroark is planning to do? I can still save you if you wanted. Maybe I could even make Beheeyem give that Lucario's real memories back."

He was up to something. Aamira was beyond trusting Darach anymore. Still, she wanted some way rebel against Zoroark. "What do you want?"

"Just to give you an idea I had. So here's what I'm thinking. Why is Zoroark the one in charge? Normally you would have become the queen the day you turned fifteen. The only reason you're not the queen now is because everyone still believes you're missing. What if somehow a rumor was leaked that you were here in the castle and people actually saw you? What would Zoroark be able to do then? Well he could claim that you had amnesia, like you really do, and that you're not fit to rule. With me giving you the information you need though, you'd be able to fake your own memory well enough. You might even be able to expose Zoroark as the monster he is."

Aamira still wasn't about to trust him. He was up to something and the idea didn't have much appeal to it anyway. Sure he offered to give Lucario's memories back, but if he wanted to get on her good side he wouldn't have altered them to begin with.

"There is just one flaw in this plan though." This was the part Aamira had been waiting for. "You know you were supposed to get married on your fifteenth birthday? You weren't able to get married; you weren't able to take the throne. Those two things should have happened on the same day. People will be expecting a wedding, of course. That leaves you in a difficult position though, doesn't it? With Faris as your Godfather, that means that every male human you know is related to you in some way. Well, except for one."

Aamira stared at him blankly for a second before bursting into laughter. "You're joking. That's what you want? You want to marry me so you can become the next king, is that it? I don't care how smart you present yourself as being, you're such a fool. If you hadn't turned to Zoroark, I might have agreed. I really did like you and, as you pointed out, I didn't exactly know any other male humans who don't either hate me or who aren't related to me in some way already. After what you've done though, you must be out of your mind if you think I'm just going to hand you some position of power like that."

Darach smirked and even started to laugh along with her. "Yes, I know. It's ridiculous. Maybe I should have just waited to see how things played out, but I was afraid that you'd end up getting yourself killed with the rest of the rebels in some halfhearted attempt to take back the kingdom. Maybe I was just being impatient, I don't know. I don't have an eternal life like Zoroark. Either way, my choices have gotten me into a good position. Think about it. Zoroark was relying on me and my ability to make the Leuminite work to make Beheeyem to obey orders. When I make more of these devices, I'll be able to control an army. He needs me. He needs you too, but that's different. I can make more advances to his technology while the extent of what you can do will be used up once you're forced to the point of insanity. You'll be disposable, even a liability. Now with that in mind, which of us do you think is in a greater position of power currently?"

"I don't care." Aamira said simply. She didn't either. She didn't care about politics. It was all dependant on fame and appearances and never the truth. It wasn't exactly something that interested someone who had done investigations for a living.

"I don't think you see my point." Darach moved his hand slightly. It was a small movement that could have been overlooked if it hadn't moved his cloak in a way that showed the white hilt of his hidden dagger. "What I mean to say is that I'm immune. If anything happens to you, it won't have any long term consequences. Do you really think that Zoroark spent his whole life waiting for you to come along? He'll have other plans and I might even be the one to help formulate them."

"You mean to say you're practically already second in command." The sight of the dagger hadn't affected Aamira as much as it probably should have. "Then why bother saving me? I'm guessing it's because you're not satisfied with your position. Even if I went along with your plan, you'd always be second in command until I mysteriously die one night. Either way I can't see why I should go along with this. After all, Zoroark will know when I die. I've seen him lose his temper before, you haven't. You're not as immune as you might think."

"We'll find out then, won't we?" Darach grabbed the hilt of the dagger.

"Darach, what do you think you're doing here?" Darach stopped and turned towards the door. Someone else was there now. Aamira's eyes had adjusted a little so she was able to recognize the General without her needing to walk into the room.

Darach let his hand fall casually to his side so that his cloak fell over the dagger and obscured it again. "Zoroark's orders. I was supposed to check up on her hourly until she woke up."

"What a coincidence." She walked up to Darach and for the first time Aamira noticed how much taller she was. It was actually kind of intimidating. "He sent me to find you. Beheeyem is refusing to follow his orders and Zoroark wanted to use his abilities to reform some of the rebels. Apparently he'll only listen to the person who put him into that contraption of yours."

Darach sighed and walked past her. He gave a glance back to Aamira to let her know that their conversation wasn't over yet. As far as she was concerned it was. There was nothing he could say or do to intimidate her.

"I hope he wasn't bothering you too much." The General said to Aamira when he had finally left. "I know he's up to something since Zoroark actually asked me to check in on you. I thought it would be best not to provoke him though."

"Thanks, I guess…" Aamira said uncertainly. "Not that it matters, right? Just doing your job, aren't you? You won't have to put up with it for much longer though. You're going to tell him I'm awake now, aren't you?"

"Not necessarily. That mainly depends on you."

'Oh great another one.' Aamira was really getting tired of people trying to manipulate her. With Zoroark around, how much power did they think she actually had?

She walked into the room and over to the window and looked out at the sky. "Waning crescent. I never had to pay much attention to the moon before. This whole time you've been cringing away from its light."

"Do you think I'm a coward?" Aamira asked.

"No, just extremely resilient. I can't imagine being able to avoid something like light for so long." She turned away from the window and back to Aamira. "I can't get to your friends in the dungeons, but Zoroark thinks I won't be able to do as much damage around you. This might be a difficult choice for you. Would you rather leave without your friends or stay here and lose your mind?"

"I'm staying, of course! Why would you even ask that? I'm not about to give him an excuse to hurt Quill and Lucario."

"Even if Lucario's not your friend anymore? Your loyalty is impressive. I used to not understand why people made such a fuss over you. You were Anima's daughter, but so what? What had you done? I think I'm starting to understand it though." she walked up to Aamira and knelt down next to her so she had no way of avoiding eye contact. "Are you sure that's your answer?"

"Of course I'm sure." What was going on? Aamira never knew anymore. Was she an enemy or not?

The General sighed and walked closer to her. "I was really hoping you would make this easier, but maybe this way is for the best."

Her movements were so quick that Aamira could barely see them in her exhausted state. Reacting to them was beyond her ability at the time. All she knew was that the General had rushed towards her and the next second she felt something hit her in the back of the head.

The General bent down to pick Aamira up and turned to look towards the moon outside of the window. Things were going to get really complicated from this point on. She still wasn't entirely sure if this child was fit to be a queen, but now she knew her loyalty belonged to her family. At the very least, she could let Aamira sleep a little longer and take on some of the difficulties herself.

Aamira woke up slowly a few hours later to the sound of hooves pounding on a stone surface. She rubbed her eyes and noticed that her hands were tied together. She tried to move her feet and found that they were tied together in the same way. She was lying over a saddle, which explained the sound of hooves. She looked around and immediately started to panic. She was outside.

She looked up at the General who was pushing the Rapidash probably harder than it could handle. "What are you doing?! Take me back! You're going to kill my friends."

"Which is exactly why we're moving at this haphazardly pace. I had to let someone see you were unconscious or they would have thought that you had escaped on your own. Now we're being chased. It would have been easier if you had been willing to abandon them, but I admire your loyalty. I'm not taking you back and I don't think your Rapidash is going to let me anyway."

Aamira tried to lift herself up to look behind them, but Capricorn's speed and the furious pounding of his hooves along with the fact that her hands and feet were tied made it difficult. Sure enough, Houndoom was following close behind them. Hypno was standing on Capricorn's back and firing Focus Blasts at him. Houndoom, as strong as he was, he wasn't about to just jump in front of an attack like that multiple times.

They were running through the city. It was the first time Aamira had ever seen the city like this. It was late, but there were still a lot of people out watching the source of the commotion. At the speed they were moving, they must have been difficult to see. Surely someone would notice Aamira though. Would they recognize her? Her hair had grown out completely since she had cut it short in Dargan, so now she resembled her mother almost perfectly. Surely someone was going to recognize her.

Within only minutes they passed by the tracks that ran along the edge of the city. Eventually they managed to get to the edge of the forest that ran almost entirely around the city. Once they were at the edge of the tree line, Hypno used protect. Because the trees were so close together, Houndoom had to follow them in a straight line. He nearly ran right into the protective barrier as he came to a sudden stop in front of it. He managed to get around and keep following them, but between the trees and Hypno's Protect, he wasn't able to keep up. They kept running even after Houndoom was far out of their sight.

Capricorn whinnied and reared up as they reached a river. He wasn't about to cross water any time soon. The General jumped off of his back and grabbed Aamira while Hypno grabbed their bags. He even had Aamira's bag with him, which she hadn't seen since Zoroark had caught them. Hypno created a psychic barrier around them and they ran into and crossed without getting wet. The barrier was small though and Hypno had just enough strength to keep it going until they crossed. Capricorn wouldn't have been able to cross even if they were able to convince him to go under water.

They kept running for a while. It felt strange being carried by someone like this. Almost familiar even. Aamira wasn't going to argue though. The only way she would be able to escape was unwillingly, so it had to happen this way. Soon they reached a small stone hut that Aamira recognized. She had only been here once before as far as she could remember. This was the hut that Mienshao usually stayed at.

"What are we doing here?" Aamira asked.

"Mienshao let me use this place." She carried Aamira inside and sat Aamira down on the cot that Mienshao usually slept on. "The forest canopy is thick here so he shouldn't be able to see us."

Aamira sighed and stretched her arms and legs. Being draped across Capricorn's back like that hadn't been very comfortable. "I can't decide whether I should be grateful or whether I should hate you."

She smiled and untied Aamira's hands and feet. "Maybe this will help you decide. I don't really care either way. As you said, I'm only doing my job."

"You realize I have to try to escape now." Aamira said. "As you said, I'm not about to abandon my friends."

"I realize that." she turned towards Hypno, who created another barrier in front of the door. "Oh look, you're still trapped. You can walk on your own from here on, but if you try to run Hypno will just pull you back with his psychic powers. You might want to put on a good show and attempt it a few times if someone's ever watching." She opened her bag and took out a small guard's uniform. "I took a spare trainee's uniform from the barracks. I thought it would be a little more comfortable to be running around in than a dress."

Aamira got dressed and the three of them sat in the hut, waiting for morning to come or for someone to find them. They didn't dare fall asleep in case someone caught them off guard. Hypno had to stay awake since he was keeping the barrier up and the General had to stay up because Aamira wouldn't be able to tell them if someone was nearby without Zoroark thinking that she had run away on purpose. After sleeping for the last few days, Aamira couldn't have slept now if she wanted to.

"Why did Mienshao let you use his shack?" Aamira asked to break the silence.

"His partner was my cousin." She laughed bitterly. "It's almost funny. She came from a family of psychic type users and I came from a family of fighting type users. She got the fighting type and I got the psychic type. She never told anyone about Mienshao and he resented her for it. I told everyone about Hypno when we first met and my family resented me for it. Being younger than Faris didn't help, but it was mainly because of Hypno that I wasn't given the Captain's title. Our partners say a lot about us, don't you think?"

Aamira ignored the last part. She didn't want to hear anything that made her think of Zoroark. "What about Bisharp? She's not a fighting type."

"At least she acts like one and looks knightly. That's why Faris was chosen over me by our father to become the next Captain. Our father always thought I was weak. I hated him and Faris for it. I would have done just about anything that would mean I could take his job until I found out I couldn't have done just about anything. When I found you two out in the woods that first time, I couldn't tell Zoroark about it. He threatened me with a demotion after I came up with a lie to protect you and Faris. I don't know if he ever figured out I was lying or not. I had nightmares about it for a few nights after that. I couldn't figure out why I had lied to Zoroark. He scared me so much and still does for that matter. I could have gained so much by telling him the truth. Eventually I decided I didn't care what happened to me and that I cared more about protecting my family and the ones I was meant to be loyal to. That's when Hypno evolved."

"Most people wouldn't tell anyone the reason behind their partner's evolution. I'm glad you told me that though. Do you prefer to be called Lily or General? Most people I've ever heard mention you have called you General, aside from Faris."

"I like General better. It sounds tougher and I don't exactly look as strong as Faris or most of the other guards do. You can call me Lily if you want. I don't like the name because it sounds so delicate, but I've never had a problem with family members using it."

"I've just been calling you the General in my head, but I think I'll call you Lily. It sounds more personal. I don't think it sounds delicate."

"Not that it matters. After tonight, I doubt anyone would be calling me 'General' anymore anyway."

While taking the chance to rest, Aamira was able to eat the little bit of food she had left in her bag, which Lily had snuck out of the castle. It was a small meal, but it was the first one she had had in days. A few hours later the sun came up and they got ready to leave. Aamira was still scared for Quill and Lucario, but what good would hostages be without the person they're used to manipulate? Unless Aamira got caught, they would be okay. They almost had all of their stuff together when Hypno raised the alarm.

"We have company." He said. "Let's go."

Lily, who had been moving at a casual pace until then, rushed to get all of their stuff together and grabbed Aamira by the arm before running out of the hut with Hypno at her side. Aamira's legs were a lot shorter than Lily's and considering she hadn't ran in months, she had trouble keeping up. Even when she stumbled a few times, Lily's grip on her arm kept her from falling. It was more like she was being dragged than allowed to run on her own.

Aamira managed to look back at their pursuers. She was able to see Houndoom in the distance because of his size, but the few other pokemon following him were too small and far away to see clearly in the early morning light. Hypno kept up the attack as he had earlier. Houndoom, who was their closest pursuer, would take the opportunity to counter with a Flamethrower whenever possible, setting the forest around them on fire.

'He's trying to herd us somewhere with the flames.' Aamira realized. She wanted to tell Lily, but she still couldn't risk making it look like she was there willingly. 'I hope she can figure it out or we're both caught.'

It didn't look like the flames were going to be much of a problem with Hypno around though. When they were a good distance away from Houndoom, Hypno managed to push the flames out of the way with his psychic powers. The flames were climbing up the sides of the trees, making it difficult to see or breathe through the smoke. Eventually they got through the flames and they kept running until the smoke rising from the trees was far off in the distance.

Aamira had started to stumble more often. She couldn't keep up at this pace. "I can't keep up. I have to stop."

"Suck it up and keep moving. The toxins in Houndoom's smoke leave a distinct scent. We can still be followed even at this distance."

Aamira tried to keep running, but the pain in her feet was unbearable. She stumbled again and her foot got caught on something. It was probably either some small pokemon's den or a tree root, but she didn't have time to check. Hypno ran up behind her and grabbed Aamira and started carrying her on his back. He wasn't a pokemon that normally should have been able to run at this speed and Aamira slowed him down a little, but they still managed.

They finally stopped somewhere on the outside of the forest close to the base of the mountains. Hypno dropped Aamira on the ground, not doing much to make sure she was comfortable. He glared at her for a moment before turning away. The only time Aamira had ever heard him talk was when he was warning them about Houndoom earlier. Did he dislike her for some reason?

"What were you doing back there!?" Lily shouted at her. "Were you actually trying to get yourself caught? I know you want to go back and save your friends, but for now you have to escape. What don't you understand about that?"

"You think I don't understand? If you would have just listened to me for a few seconds, I would have told you!" Aamira pulled her shoes off and started rubbing her feet. As usual there were no visual indications that anything was wrong with them, but they felt almost like they were on fire. "You mentioned Houndoom's toxins before, remember? What do you think was the first thing Houndoom did the last time he caught me?"

Lily finally showed some slight hint of remorse as she sat down next to Aamira so she could rest too. "He burned your feet so you wouldn't run again."

"I got used to it after a while, but it still hurts to run for a long time like that." Aamira kept rubbing her feet and gripped her ankles when the pain would become too much. "I won't keep saying that I'm too small or that I'm just some weak human who couldn't handle a fight with a pokemon or that I can't even run away because my feet hurt too much or because I'm half starved. I don't want to be a martyr in any way. I want to go back and face Zoroark and beat him with my own power, but I don't know how I can."

"Wouldn't you become a martyr either way?" she asked. "People might recognize you and they might see the sorts of things that have been done to you. That would no doubt cause some sort of rebellion. Or maybe you could go back to fight Zoroark on your own. What would you do then? A human can't hurt their partner; it's physically impossible. Even if you managed to, you'd just end up killing yourself in the process. Who would everyone blame for your death? Zoroark, of course. You'd be dying for his downfall either way."

Aamira eventually managed to calm down and was able to become more serious again. "I need to ask you to do me a favor. It's not an order or anything, I don't even know if I technically have the authority to give you an order. If it ends up being the case that I can't do this on my own and I can't rescue my friends, I want you to do this for me. Use that sword of yours, which you once threatened a kid with when we first met, and used to on Zoroark. I can guarantee that his partner won't be coming to his defense like Mightyena did. Get him from behind if you can. I'm not asking you to do it this way because I think you're a coward; he doesn't even deserve to see the face of the one who finally puts an end to this."

Lily laughed in a way that sounded really out of character for her. It almost sounded cheerful. "You really hate him, don't you? Are you sure he's your partner?"

Aamira went silent, which was something Lily hadn't expected. It was meant to be a joke, but considering who it was about she wasn't too surprised that she had touched a nerve somewhere.

"I knew he was from the start. From the second I came back before I even knew about this human-pokemon partnership thing, there was something about his eyes that made it difficult for me to stare directly into them. When I found out about how the very lives of a human and their partner are connected, I denied it could be him. I hoped every night it wasn't. Sometimes I think that maybe he isn't. How can someone I'm supposed to be so deeply connected to be someone I hate so much? Someone told me that by finding the three knights I would be able to meet my partner. I thought that maybe that proved that he wasn't after all. Then I found out that this same person was supposed to be secretly watching over me my whole life and following instructions left behind by my mother. Anima probably told her to tell me that. Maybe it wasn't even a lie since we were caught by Zoroark right after we returned."

Lily sighed and sat up straighter. "Hypno didn't exactly choose me to be his partner. He's one of the pokemon who hates humans who would have preferred not to have one, but I'm still grateful that he didn't abandon me like some other pokemon might have. I used to think that your partner wasn't something you could be picky about. Maybe that's still true. If there's any doubt in your mind that Zoroark isn't your real partner then maybe he isn't. There might have been times I resented Hypno because I was stuck with a psychic type, but never once did I doubt him. I've never heard of anyone else that ever has either."

Aamira clasped her hands together to calm herself down. She was about to get all excited and worked up again over the possibility, but she knew it would just come back to haunt her later in one way or another. Maybe Zoroark wasn't her partner, but maybe he was. It wasn't like the circumstances were normal. "I don't have any frame of reference to work from. Can you tell me what it was like the first time you saw Hypno's eyes?"

Lily smiled; something rare for someone so serious. "Zoroark's not your partner. No one really has a frame of reference before they meet their partner. You would know."

Aamira sighed and clasped her hands together a little tighter. Maybe she would let herself be a little excited or maybe even a little relieved. What she would give to be allowed to let her guard down for just a few minutes. Zoroark hadn't been born in this world, she knew that much. He was older than any of the human or pokemon societies in this world. Before that had been one of her strongest arguments for why he couldn't be her partner. When she regained a small fragment of her ability to sense aura, she could feel that his was still similar to everyone else's in this world. Either he was still somehow born in a place where the Dragon Force existed or he had been in this world long enough for it to rub off on him somehow. It would have still been possible.

But if it wasn't Zoroark, as she was now allowing herself to believe, then who was it? Maybe Morrigan was telling the truth after all. If that was the case then where was Aamira's partner? "Is a deserter better than Zoroark? I'm having trouble deciding."

Lily stood up and reached out for Aamira's hand to help her up. "If you've rested enough we should keep going. Houndoom probably isn't far behind us."

Aamira took her hand and stood up. She wanted to rest longer. They had already been running for miles and her feet were still hurting. As she said before though, she didn't complain. They moved at a slightly more leisurely pace that made it a little easier for Aamira to keep up. Hypno seemed reluctant to carry her again, but she didn't mind running on her own.

"Where are you taking me anyway?" Aamira asked.

"Mt. Victoria." Lily shouted back to her while they were running.

Something was weird about that. What did she know about Mt. Victoria? "Why there of all places?"

"I'm not entirely sure. Some person wearing a red cloak with a Haxorus told me to take you there. Normally I'd think it was a trap, but really how could things get much worse than they already were?"

Morrigan told her? Was she waiting for her at the top of the mountain like she was that other time? Maybe at least Aamira would be getting a few answers now.

Before Aamira could think more on this, there was a flash of blue-green light and a small explosion near her legs. She was thrown off to the side and covered her head with her arms to protect herself from the fall. She knew that color anywhere. That was an aura sphere that had hit her. She looked around dazed for a moment, trying to see through the dirt that had been blown into the air. Lily already had her sword drawn and Hypno had retreated to where Aamira was in case their attacker got too close or she tried to run.

The dust finally settled enough for Aamira to see who had attacked them, not that she was too surprised. It was Lucario. Of course Zoroark would send him. He knew what her aura looked like so he would be able to find her easily. But who was this pokemon standing in front of her? He looked so ferocious, like someone who had gone through more difficulties than even Lucario had in his life. Maybe this was how he had been before meeting Aamira even. The scariest thing was knowing that he was looking right at her and didn't really recognize her. When she looked into his eyes, they weren't just the eyes of some vicious beast that had been hurt one too many times; they were the eyes of a complete stranger.

"Lucario… What did he do to you…?" She could barely stand seeing her friend like this. His eyes moved to meet hers. He hadn't even been looking in her direction after all, but rather at the one holding the sword who might actually be a threat. He had apparently heard her, but didn't look like he was about to question what she had said. Zoroark probably said something to him to keep him from asking anything that would reveal what he had done.

While Lucario was looking away, Lily attacked. Aamira screamed at her to stop and tried to run into the fight, but Hypno held her back. She didn't want this. She didn't want to see her friends fight for Zoroark or to be in so much pain. She would go back and do whatever Zoroark told her if he would just leave them alone.

Lily was no match for Lucario on her own though. He was easily able to overpower her. For a while it looked like Lucario would actually win and Aamira would go back with him to Zoroark either way.

"Hypno!" she shouted. "Focus Blast!"

Hypno pushed Aamira back to the ground hard with one of his psychic attacks so she would be too stunned to run. He ran to help his partner and attacked Lucario with Focus Blast. Lucario attacked at the same time with Dark Pulse. Hypno was hit, but not as badly as Lucario was. He staggered for a second, just long enough for Hypno to use Protect.

"Take her and run!" Hypno shouted to his partner.

Lily looked conflicted for the first time since this adventure of theirs began. She ran and grabbed Aamira and continued running towards the mountains while Hypno stayed behind to hold off Lucario.

Aamira had recovered from the shock of Hypno's sudden attack by the time Lily grabbed her. She didn't bother trying to get away though. She knew she wouldn't be able to overpower the General. She didn't have the strength in her to fight after seeing Lucario anyway.

"This is really bad." Lily said. "If his memory was altered so he believes he's an assassin or something, I could drop dead any second now."

"No, he would knock Hypno out maybe, but nothing like that!" Aamira said desperately.

"It's not the Lucario you know though. How could you say that for sure?" She felt Aamira tense in her arms and looked down to find her in some sort of petrified state. Of course she was just saying that because she herself was in denial about what she had seen. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. Zoroark sent Lucario to find me. He won't spend more time fighting Hypno than he'll have to." She explained. "I don't know what memories Zoroark gave him. Maybe he thinks he has done stuff like that before and maybe he will again if ordered to. Can I ask you something though? Why does Hypno hate me so much?"

Lily realized she was trying to change the subject or say something that would distract her from the fight happening somewhere out of sight behind them. "I wouldn't know. He hates most humans, but he's always had a stronger dislike for you, even when you were younger. Maybe he was more attached to Anima than he ever let on and blamed you for what happened. It's not like he had a special dislike for her or anything; it was about the same with any other human."

They were in the mountains now. Aamira could see the twin peaks of Mt. Victoria above them. How it had happened she would never know, but by this time the sun was already setting again. Aamira decided to run on her own again. Having some sort of destination and a goal to work towards helped her to clear her mind. At the top of the peak she would see Morrigan who would introduce her to her partner and maybe even have some miracle cure for Lucario and advice on how to fight Zoroark. She knew these things wouldn't happen, but it was all that kept her going.

The dungeon had gotten much more difficult since the last time they were there, but Lily was astoundingly able to take out all of the enemies on her own. Fortunately Garchomp recognized Aamira and let them pass without a battle and there were no Phantoms created by Zoroark this time. Actually, the lack of Phantoms made it feel wrong somehow. Even with Lucario, who had no doubt defeated Hypno by now, pursuing them, it felt almost too easy.

Finally they came out at the leveled area between the peaks. Victini was nowhere to be seen and the Bronzong were dozing on their pole. To Lily, who didn't know about them, they appeared to just be a couple of old bronze bells. It was dark now and the moon was high. Zoroark was watching them, no doubt.

"You've finally made it." A familiar figure dressed in a red cloak stepped out from behind one of the many piles of stone dotting the plateau.

Aamira took a few hesitant steps towards Morrigan. "Can you tell me one thing and give me a straight answer?"

"That depends on your question." She said.

Aamira took a deep breath. She didn't know what was going to happen next, but she knew that she had to be quick. Zoroark or someone working directly under him would be there any minute. "You said I would meet my partner if I met the three knights, right? And then right after that Zoroark caught us, so I thought it must be him. I don't know anymore though. You obviously do though, so is it Zoroark?"

Aamira wished she could see more of Morrigan's face so she could at least get a clue of what she was thinking. Maybe that's why she always wore the hood up. It obviously wasn't because of the sun like she had claimed before since it was well past sunset by now. Finally she answered. "The funny part is he actually believes it himself."

Aamira felt like a huge weight was suddenly lifted off of her and she actually managed to smile a little. "You really can't ever give a straight answer can you?"

Morrigan smiled. "Sorry, it's an old habit. I'll just make this clear so you won't ever doubt it again and you won't be able to blame me for giving a bad answer. No, Zoroark is not your partner."

Aamira gave a huge sigh of relief and collapsed to her knees. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Finally something good had happened.

"I should probably explain further. Over his lifetime he's done many experiments with altering DNA in an attempt to create servants that are both powerful and loyal. What you feel when you look into his eyes is just that and nothing more. There's no meaningful connection behind it and you're not obligated to submit to the instincts he created for you as far as your will can hold out."

In her excitement, Aamira nearly forgot the situation they were in. She hurriedly got back to her feet. "So what happens now? And if Zoroark isn't my partner then who is?"

"I'll wake up the Bronzong and have them send you to another world that you've been to before. Of course for your friends' sake you'll have to try to return. In the meantime you can find a way to stop Zoroark. If my information is correct, that device created by Darach was modeled after something, wasn't it? I'd advise you to look for it and bring it here. I don't know if it will work or maybe you'll find some other solution, but it's all I can think of for now. To answer your other question, I'll give you another of my famous half-answers. They didn't abandon you. In fact, you've already met them."

The answer to Aamira's second question, as usual, just gave her more questions. She didn't see how it was possible. Wasn't she supposed to know without about if she had already met her partner? Unless… of course. She had met her partner before. She just couldn't remember it. Now he was most likely keeping his distance in a way to somehow protect her. Maybe even on her mother's orders? That was a nice thought that she decided to accept until it was disproven.

Morrigan went to wake up the Bronzong. They weren't too happy about it, but they agreed to open a portal for Aamira. They were confused at first when they found the ones to both Atra and Quill's world closed though, so they settled for the only other world Aamira had ever been to aside from the Other world: Desolo.

The Bronzong started to ring, but before Aamira could move towards the portal that was beginning to form, she found that she and Lily were surrounded by Houndoom, Lucario, and several other Alphas that Aamira didn't know.

"We found you. Hide and seek is over; it's time to go home." Houndoom said to Aamira.

Lily blocked Aamira's path to keep her from rejoining Houndoom or forcing her to resist capture. She drew her sword, even though she wouldn't be able to do much against Lucario, Houndoom, and the rest of the Alphas.

Houndoom was about to attack, but Lucario walked in front of him and blocked his path. "Hold on, I want to fight this one."

Houndoom smirked at Aamira. Lucario had his back turned and didn't notice. "As you wish. Do as you like."

Aamira watched in stunned silence as Lily and Lucario fought. Like last time Lily was no match, but Lucario wasn't exactly allowing her to slow down. Whoever this Lucario was, he wasn't opposed to using moves on a human opponent. It was just getting too brutal for Aamira's liking.

"Lucario, stop it!" Aamira shouted. Lucario stumbled for a second and backed away from Lily, who was already barely able to move on the ground. "You've already won and I'm not going to run, so just stop already!"

Lucario stared at her suspiciously. "Do you speak with everyone so familiarly, human? I find your race to be weak and hardly worth my time. Your friend here should be honored I wasted my time with her and you should be grateful that I came to 'rescue' you from your kidnappers."

"If all you want is a battle, then fight me! I can guarantee Zoroark won't mind if you of all people broke a few limbs before dragging me back. In fact, I bet he's watching right now hoping you'll agree."

Lucario considered it for a moment and, without even giving an answer, ran to attack Aamira. He started off just using basic martial arts moves, which Aamira could just barely keep up with, but not without knowing that she would be covered in bruises in the morning. She barely had a chance to fight back and even when she did she mainly just used all of her energy to defend.

Eventually Lucario started to get bored and started to attack with moves again, which Aamira was forced to dodge. She could already barely breathe and her muscles were screaming at her to stop moving for jus a few minutes, but she couldn't risk even slowing down. Eventually her muscles did the slowing down for her and she paid the price for it. Just as one of her feet touched the ground, Lucario got her leg with an Aura Sphere and caused her to fall to the ground. He formed another Aura Sphere and ran towards her to use a close range attack.

Aamira closed her eyes and prepared for the attack. It could very well be that it would knock her unconscious and the next time she woke up, she wouldn't have enough sanity left to even register that she had been knocked out at all. The attack never came though. She opened her eyes to see Lucario standing over her, ready to attack, but for some reason he was hesitating. He looked conflicted and confused, but other than that there was still no sign of recognition or any emotion that would hold him back.

While Lucario was locked in some internal conflict that Aamira couldn't determine, he was hit by a Dragon Pulse that had come from somewhere behind her. Lucario was knocked back to where Houndoom was standing, now poised for battle. While Haxorus fought against Houndoom, Lucario, and the other Alphas and he slowly started to tire, Morrigan walked up next to Aamira. "You have to go now while the portal's open!"

"But you'll be overrun! Come with me!"

"I can't. They'll follow us if I do. Just get going!" Morrigan grabbed Aamira by the front of her shirt, lifted her up, and threw Aamira back towards the portal. Aamira had no way to keep herself from falling and had to watch as everything was blocked out by a terribly bright light and she lost sight of the battle in front of her.

Satisfied that Aamira had passed through safely, Morrigan ran over to Lily and helped her up while the Bronzong closed the portal. Aamira was safe, but now they were trapped in the middle of a bunch of angry high-ranking Alphas.

"I hope you have some other plan up your sleeves." Lily said. She couldn't think of any way they would be able to get out of this situation alive.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I'd rather not resort to this, but I have no choice. I hope you don't mind keeping a secret; this thing is more constricting in a fight than you might think." Morrigan reached up to her hood and in a single quick movement, pulled off her cloak.


	27. Chapter 27 Shadow King

Aamira had been laying hidden in the tall grass for what felt like hours. She hadn't thought about it before, but Desolo was really the best place to be to hide from Zoroark. This world had a moon, but it also had two suns that were part of a binary star system with the planet suspended in the center. Whenever one sun set, the other one would rise. In fact in this world the two suns combined were so bright that the only time the moon could be seen was when it was full. Since moonlight could only shine at night, she didn't have to worry about Zoroark seeing her.

There had been a few times when the moon would already be up during the day in her own world. She had been wary of it at first, but eventually she risked venturing out during the day when the moon was up and found that Zoroark wasn't able to see her. If he had been she would have been captured within a few hours for sure.

Now she was safe though. She finally had some time to rest. It was difficult to tell time just from the amount of light though, so she could have been dozing on and off for the entire day without knowing it. The only time she opened her eyes all the way was when she first got there to check her surroundings, so all she had to go off of was the light.

Eventually though she decided it was time to go. It was time to put her Investigation Team skills to work for the first time in a while in order to find the scepter. She went over what she already knew about it. While in the Other world, they had sealed Ninetales into it. This could be problematic since Ninetales was one of Zoroark's most loyal followers. It was possible to seal more than one pokemon inside it at a time as Lucario had proven when they first used it on Mismagius. However, everything had a limit to how much energy could be contained. Ninetales was difficult enough to capture with it; with Zoroark it would be nearly impossible. He would have to be severely weakened before then and even then it might not hold both of them at once. This was a detail that could be sorted out later though.

She assumed it was back in Atra, since apparently the Ruko from their time had returned. Had Lucario told her that? So much had happened in the last few months and she had been on edge the whole time because of Zoroark. It was hard to remember things they had talked about in passing conversation. It was a place to start at least. How would she get there though? That portal was only blocked by Mew between her world and Atra, so she should be able to get there from Desolo. Somehow.

"Where am I anyway?" Aamira tried to look over the grass to find any landmarks, but the grass was just a little too tall for her to see over. Not that it would help. She had only ever been to one city in this world and it had apparently been the capitol. She could be just about anywhere even if she could see some kind of landmark.

Aamira started walking, since there wasn't much else for her to do. Her best chance was to find someone and ask for directions. She had an eerie feeling when walking through the tall grass after remembering an old Dargonian legend about a person seeing a flash of light when they die and wake up in the afterlife, which was thought to be an endless field of wheat. That had been more or less exactly what happened. Of course she didn't believe in that sort of thing, but the similarity to the story gave her an eerie feeling nonetheless.

Eventually she did come across someone, and nearly tripped over him too. Hidden in the grass was a little Abra, who was fast asleep. For a pokemon who slept eighteen hours a day, it wasn't too surprising finding him here. Aamira reached down to try to shake him awake, but unsurprisingly he teleported away the second she was about to touch him. She looked around in the grass in an attempt to find where it had teleported to, but eventually had to admit defeat. It was the same color as the grass around her and was probably constantly moving. It was like finding a needle in a haystack if the needle was constantly teleporting to different places in the haystack.

She continued walking, grateful for the good weather at least but wishing that she had someone to talk to other than herself. Only a few minutes later, her wish for company was granted. She sensed someone teleporting behind her, just within her range to sense a person's aura. Out of habit she turned to attack, but was immediately hit by Psychic and thrown on her back. The Alakazam that attacked her Teleported next to her, grabbed her arm, and used Teleport again, taking her along.

Aamira was slightly dizzy and extremely disoriented when things came back into focus. She used to be teleported out of dungeons all the time, but it had been so long that she forgot what it was like. Alakazam had Teleported her into some sort of steel cage that was kept in the center of a small village. The cage had no doors, which made sense since psychic types didn't need to use them. She would only be able to get out when Alakazam or some other psychic type decided she would.

Standing some distance away from the cage were a few other pokemon aside from Alakazam who was standing directly in front of it. Most of them were psychic types, as was typical for Dellevis. One of the children who was watching moved closer to his mother and whispered something that sounded like "Why doesn't that human look scared?" It was hard to say for sure though since he was a good distance away from Aamira.

"Where did you take me?" Aamira asked Alakazam as she pushed herself off of the floor of the cage.

"Quiet, human!" Alakazam attacked her again with psychic, this time pushing her into the bars of the cage. "How dare you speak to me!"

The crowd was starting to get excited for some reason. Something was seriously wrong. Aamira didn't remember the pokemon here being so violent the last time she was there. Then again, she knew that Mewtwo didn't like humans and the last time she had been here she had been a pokemon. She had no idea how they would treat a human.

"So you're not going to explain why you attacked me or when you're going to release me?" Aamira asked.

Alakazam finally released his attack and let Aamira fall back to the floor of the cage. "You'll be released when you're sent back to your own world."

How did he know that Aamira had come from another world? Well, it wasn't like humans lived in Desolo but surely the existence of other worlds wasn't common knowledge. What was Mewtwo playing at?

"But I can't go back to my world yet." Aamira said. "It's a complicated situation, but I have to get to a different world and the only way I can do that is through Desolo."

Alakazam laughed. "And what right does a human have jumping around between worlds? I'm going to have you answer some questions before taking you to Mewtwo for an official trial. I expect you won't resist answering?"

Maybe Mewtwo would be able to give her some answers if she could get him to listen to her. Obviously he wasn't going to recognize her right away. It looked like she would have to answer Alakazam's questions first though. But a trial? What was the point of that? Aamira hadn't done anything wrong. "Fine. Ask away."

Alakazam looked a little surprised by Aamira's willingness to answer his questions. "Why don't we start with what world you think you're going to get to from here?"

Now Aamira was a little hesitant to answer. It was probably best just to get it over with though. "Atra."

Alakazam laughed. "Good luck." What did he mean by that? "This provides me with the next question at least. What's your alignment?"

"My what?"

Alakazam stared at her like she was the least intelligent creature he had ever come across. A few of the pokemon in the crowd smiled and shook their heads as if suggesting they saw her the same way. "Your alignment. Do you follow the teachings of your king or not?"

"My king?" Aamira asked. "What would you know about him? Not that I'd ever consider someone like that my king anyway."

"Finally a human who speaks agreeably. Maybe you're just the first to lie and betray him in an attempt to save yourself. Not that it would really matter either way."

"You're talking nonsense. Just finish your questions already."

Alakazam stared at her the same way he did before. "What type of profession do you inherit?"

"You mean inherit from my parents?" This was something else that Aamira would prefer not to say. Not that Alakazam even knew anything about her so it didn't really mater. "Political, I guess?"

This was the first time that Alakazam and the other pokemon in the crowd ever looked as confused as she did. "You guess? And what sort of politician would go against their king? Do you have a death wish?"

Aamira laughed. "You know, sometimes it does seem like that, doesn't it?"

Alakazam shook his head. "Never mind. If you're a politician's child, then what is your family name?"

Now the questions were starting to get too specific. Still, he seemed knowledgeable like most Alakazam did and Aamira was finally starting to gain his trust. At least she thought that was what was happening; really this whole situation was so confusing it was hard to tell. Either way, she figured he would probably be able to tell if she was lying. "It's Cyrus."

Alakazam's face went pale and the pokemon in the crowd instantly started to murmur uneasily. Aamira knew that there was supposedly a curse on her family or something, but she didn't think it was this well known. To her surprise, Alakazam teleported into the cage with her, grabbed her arm again, a little more gently this time, and teleported her out. Immediately after he and the rest of the crowd gave a slight bow, though not enough for it to look like they were any more than slightly respectful to her family name.

"I apologize for not noticing the resemblance immediately. You see, ever since humans were banned from this world, keeping them out has been an important task. Our village is also currently housing some important guests, so I was anxious to get the interrogation out of the way as soon as possible."

"I understand…" Aamira said. "Well, no, not really. I didn't know humans were banned from Dellevis. I mean I know they don't exist in this world and that Mewtwo doesn't like them, but I didn't think they were ever actually banned."

Alakazam straightened up and glared at her. "Cyrus or not, it doesn't excuse you coming to this world or speaking about our king so familiarly. What business do you have going to Atra?"

"The situation with going to Atra is a little complicated actually. I'm actually looking for something called an Aura Scepter. I don't even know for sure if it's there, but it's the only place I can think to look first. But as for the familiarity, that's partially because I've met Mewtwo before. He's a little too serious I think, but he didn't act too viciously even though he hates humans."

"Mewtwo meeting with a human…" Alakazam said skeptically. "What business could a human, even a Cyrus, have with him?"

"I would have thought it would have been a big deal. Maybe not though. It was actually the first time I used that Aura Scepter I mentioned. Well actually a friend of mine used it. A pokemon friend, I'd like to add. This whole situation is so weird. I don't know how much I should be explaining about this."

Alakazam looked like he was starting to get aggravated by the situation also. He turned to the crowed and spoke to a Grumpig standing near the front. "Send word to the king about this and see if he can verify the human's story, would you?"

Grumpig nodded and his eyes went out of focus for a moment. Aamira assumed he was speaking to Mewtwo telepathically. He must have been a high ranking pokemon or something to speak directly to him. "The king denies ever meeting with a Cyrus or any human for that matter."

"Yea I kind of had a feeling he would say that…" Aamira admitted. "Like I said, it's a really weird situation. He didn't really know that I was a Cyrus. I didn't even know at the time actually. Amnesia. It's a long story that could probably fill up a couple of books if someone ever attempted to write it out. I can't really explain it, but he didn't exactly know I was a human either. Wait, that's not right. I did tell him eventually. Did he forget? That doesn't seem like something a pokemon like Mewtwo would forget though."

"Alakazam, don't waste your time with this human." Grumpig said. "She's obviously just a liar like the rest of them."

"I don't know…" Alakazam said to Grumpig. "I hate to admit it, but she seems just as confused as we are about this. What about our guests? That one claimed to have knowledge that surpasses my own. I'd hate to inconvenience our guests while they're in our care, but we should ask their advice on this matter. Don't misunderstand, it's not as if I'm trying to defend a human; I just can't stand a situation that I find confusing. I want to know what's going on."

Grumpig sighed. "Very well then."

Grumping ran off to get their guests. Aamira stared around the village awkwardly while everyone else watched in silence. She wanted to find out what was going on too, but this was really starting to get to be too much for her. To her surprise though, their guests were actually two people that she knew.

"Riolu! Giga! What are you doing here?" Aamira asked as the two of them ran over to her.

"We should ask you the same thing!" Riolu said. "Oh, it's another one of your past selves. Haven't seen that for a while."

"My 'past selves'?" Aamira asked.

"It's what I call your human selves." Riolu said. "For a while we were just seeing you as a Riolu so this is kind of refreshing. You told us once that we would see you in Desolo, but you couldn't tell us specifically when, so this was a nice surprise actually! I wish our encounters could be more linear time-wise, but with two groups of time travelers that's a little difficult to do I guess."

Aamira guessed that from what Riolu said that she would eventually turn back into a Riolu herself. Who knew how long that would take though. "And world hopping too. I haven't traveled through time yet though."

"Where do you think you are now?" Giga asked. "Or more specifically, when? Aamira, you're a few thousand years in the past from your present time."

"A few thousand!?" Aamira said. "How did that happen? The Bronzong were just supposed to send me to Desolo. I didn't know they could open portals to other times too. It's not wonder Mewtwo didn't recognize me; we won't meet for another few thousand years! No wonder everything this Alakazam has been saying has been so confusing. Wait, so who did you think was my king?"

"Does that mean there's another one like him in the future?" Alakazam shuddered at the thought. "I mean the human's king. The Shadow King."

"The one who took over Atra?" Aamira asked. "He tried to take over Desolo too using Mewtwo but Mewtwo betrayed him and ended up taking over instead. Yea, I guess you could say the king in my time is kind of like that. Well anyway, what are you two doing here?"

"Houndoom's here somewhere." Riolu said. "He was loyal to the Shadow King before he was eaten by that Shadow Lugia. I'm trying to track him down before he can cause any serious trouble, but he can be pretty sneaky when he's not burning down an entire village because he feels like it."

"Why don't I help you out? I need to find a way to get to Atra so I can find the Aura Scepter. Oh, I guess you wouldn't know what that is yet."

"You've mentioned in before from our perspective." Giga said.

"So this human is trustworthy?" Alakazam asked.

"Course she is. She's a friend of mine. We'll take her with us so you won't have to deal with her." At this comment, Riolu ignored the glare Aamira was giving him. "I mean it's a lot of paperwork to transfer someone to the capitol, right?"

Alakazam nodded. "Agreed. Take her with you then."

One problem was that the Aura Scepter definitely wasn't in Atra because it didn't exist yet. Aamira wasn't sure what she could do about that now, but she could probably get some idea of what to do next by traveling with Riolu and Giga.

Aamira felt bad for ending their break from searching for Houndoom, but Riolu and Giga had been preparing to leave before Grumpig had gone to find them anyway. Giga used his acute senses that all Aura Guardians had while Riolu tried to search for Houndoom's aura. They wandered around like this for some time, but they couldn't find any trace of Houndoom. They spoke a little, but not much. Neither of them had any idea how the Bronzong could have sent Aamira back in time, especially if it was a gap of a few thousand years.

One good thing was that they always had enough light to search and Houndoom couldn't sneak up on them. Aamira knew he was a lot weaker in this time than in her own, but after being chased by him through the night she was still on edge at the thought of seeing him again so soon.

"What I don't understand is why he would come to this world." Giga said. "This world doesn't have any dark places for him to hide in and no night for him to hunt in without being seen. He detested the thought of ever stepping foot into this world before Mewtwo ruined the king's plans to take it over."

"Just out of curiosity, what time period is this from your perspective?" Aamira asked.

"This is our present time." Riolu said.

"I didn't think you were born so soon after the Shadow King was killed. And Cyrus and Darius too for that matter. They were an Aura Reader and Guardian so they would have had to been born after you. And their parents too come to think of it. Wait, how old are you?"

"Three hundred and fifty two. Pokemon from our time can live to be over five hundred easily. Still nothing compared to a Ninetales, but yea I'm pretty old compared to most humans. That Shadow King thing wasn't really a recent event either. That's just the way the people of Dellevis have lived ever since then. Kind of sad, isn't it? Even now they're still paranoid about humans. Humans don't even attack pokemon anymore, let alone follow the dead Shadow King; they're too busy fighting with each other.

"I wouldn't worry about Alakazam though. He's just trying to keep up appearances. He's actually a good guy so I didn't tell anyone this, but he was actually a human once too. Him and his wife actually. There was a lab accident and he was turned into a Kadabra as a kid. His wife, who was a childhood friend, took care of him until eventually repeating the experiment so they could be together. That's been happening a lot lately, actually. Usually it's by some other circumstances that no one can really explain though. Hold up." Riolu put out his hand to stop Aamira and Giga. "There's someone up ahead. That's weird. It's an Aura Reader. A pokemon too. I didn't think there were any others aside from me in this time."

They rushed over to see who the other Aura Reader was. The grass around them was completely burned away. The pokemon in the center of the ruined battlefield was a Riolu, who was also covered in burns along with several vicious fang and claw marks. Aamira ran over to the Riolu and turned him over. He was wearing a familiar blue pendant.

"Roy! This is a Riolu from my time. How did he get here?"

Giga got a few medical supplies from his bag and started to treat Roy's injuries. "I wouldn't know how he got here, but it looks like Houndoom might have mistaken him for Riolu. At least now we'll have a trail to follow. I wish it hadn't resulted in this kid getting hurt though."

Giga finished treating Roy's injuries and they all waited for him to regain consciousness. Aamira knew that he was tough, but she still couldn't help worrying. After a few hours, he finally started to open his eyes. It looked like he was disoriented and in pain, but was otherwise alright.

"Thank goodness you're alright. I was worried there for a minute." Aamira said to him.

Riolu looked up at her, confused for a moment. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Oh I guess you wouldn't recognize me. But I thought you would have heard about me turning back into a human at least."

"Turning back?" Roy said. "Wait… Aamira? Wow, thank goodness you're okay too. I was so confused when we were all separated like that. Where are we now? How did you turn into a human? And I guess Quill must have gotten separated from us too. I'm sure we'll find him though. Nothing to worry about where that guy's concerned." Roy got up and stretched. "Still, that Houndoom was something. You should have seen him."

Something wasn't right about this, as usual. Roy thought they had been separated, which means they would have been together just a while ago from his perspective. "What kind of pokemon is Quill?"

Roy looked at her with the same confused expression as before. "What, are you testing me or something? He's a Cyndaquil."

Aamira nodded. "Thought so. You're not the Roy from my time after all. This must be where you ended up after we got separated by the Stantler. You never mentioned seeing me though. I guess there was a lot going on at the time. I'm from a few years into the future from your present time."

"Really? So what happened in your time that made you turn into a human?" Roy asked.

"Well, I guess you could say I've been dealing with a lot of family issues. I kind of met my father and we don't exactly see eye to eye on a lot of things. Maybe that's why you didn't mention meeting me. I probably didn't want you to mention it because then I would ask you if I should go back to my own world. That's really a decision I needed to make on my own, with a little push from Lucario."

"I won't mention it then." Roy said.

"Aside from that, Quill and Lucario were captured, Lucario doesn't even recognize me now and attacked me before I came here, I have no idea if Quill's even alive, I'm apparently royalty and have to save my kingdom from my tyrant of a father and the only way I can think to do it is with the Aura Scepter which doesn't exist yet in this time. I guess in your time it's about to be stolen by Mismagius. That's a completely different story though and not a very important one. Turns out Mismagius isn't all that bad after all. But I have no idea what I'm doing right now so I've just been traveling with these two for the past few hours. You'll never believe who they are. They're the First Riolu and his partner, Giga."

"That's incredible. And a lot to take in. Well I need to find a way to get back to my own time anyway. I guess you could come with me to look for the scepter."

'I guess that's true.' Aamira thought. 'And I'd be going to the Other world too, so I could find Mew and ask for help if I can find the Mew from my present time.'

"So you would be okay traveling with this guy, right?" Riolu asked. "You two should keep going on your own then. We'll keep going on our own and find Houndoom."

"But what about Roy's training?" Aamira asked without thinking. "That is, Roy came back with you to help me and Quill and he had been trained by you. That was actually the first time from my perspective that I had ever met you."

"Really?" Riolu said. "Well it wouldn't be good to mess with the timeline I guess. Looks like we have another mission aside from just tracking down Houndoom. I've never had a student before. This guy's aura is so wimpy too. Does he even know he's an Aura Reader?"

"I've… had my suspicions about that…" Roy said. "I never knew for sure until now though. This time traveling thing is so confusing, so I'll just go along with it for now."

"You probably have a lot of questions." Aamira said. "You're going to get a lot of them answered after you go back to your own time. I don't want to spoil anything for you though, so I'll let the right people tell you what you want to know. I was really surprised by a lot of it myself, but it all made so much sense. You're a lot more important than you realize."

Roy looked embarrassed and a little unsure about this, but just went along with it since he had no idea what was going to happen in his future. Riolu started training him on how to use his aura with something that Aamira recognized as a Seer's Stone. They must have been more common in this time. She knew from experience that they really did help with practicing to control aura and Roy was able to pick it up just as fast as she was, even though they were walking the whole time he practiced with it.

When Roy was a little more proficient with it, Riolu gave him a different stone. This one he had apparently placed a seal on with his own aura that he wanted Roy to try to break. He had a little more trouble with this. It occurred to Aamira that she was almost entirely self-taught as far as Aura Reader abilities went and that the first time she released a seal she had done it entirely on instinct and got it on her first try. After a few hours though, Roy did manage to break through it.

"That's Aura Release. It's used to break seals without destroying the object containing it. That could apply to a person too. Humans and pokemon are both like living batteries so energy can be sealed inside of a person just like any other object. Forcefully breaking the seal would be really painful and might even kill the person it's done on if not careful, but they wouldn't be able to feel it at all if the seal was released. The difference is basically in the power that's used. When breaking a seal, your own power is used to overwhelm the strength of the seal and destroy it. Releasing it involves drawing energy from the seal until nothing's left of it. You could think of it like a ball of yarn. You could either pull it apart forcefully or unwind it slowly. Obviously releasing is preferred since a person's strength doesn't usually apply to releasing. That's why you were able to undo the one I placed on that stone. If you had tried to break through that seal instead, you could try for a hundred years with no success because of the gap in our strength. This is an ability usually only capable Aura Readers can learn though, so most people would have to resort to breaking it."

'I've never heard the theory behind it before. This is all actually pretty interesting.' Aamira thought. 'That's why Zoroark had to break the seal that Mew put on my memory. I already knew why of course, but it still worries me that he was able to forcefully break through a seal placed by a legendary pokemon.'

"Alright, if you can release a seal then you would probably be able to make one." Riolu handed Roy another one of the stones. "Go ahead and try it on this new stone."

Roy sighed. "This is actually pretty tough. Can we take a break?"

"It would probably be a good idea." Giga agreed. "It would be night by now back in our world. We should try to get some sleep."

Riolu looked reluctant to stop in case they lost Houndoom's trail, but everyone was tired so they decided to anyway. After a couple of hours of dozing in the sun, Aamira woke up to find that she and Giga were the only ones who had been asleep. Both Roy and Riolu had snuck off somewhere. They were in an area now where the grass was a lot shorter, so finding someone wasn't as difficult. She found Riolu meditating on top of a white stone with his paws on his knees.

"You seem a lot more grown up than you were the last time I saw you." Aamira said.

"Well of course I do." Riolu said without opening his eyes. "Do you think I wouldn't have grown up at all in three hundred years?"

"Is that the only reason? Because three hundred years or so have passed?"

Riolu clutched more tightly at his knees. "There might be something. I don't know why I think someone three hundred years or so younger than me would be able to offer me advice. I have access to knowledge from any point in time. I know that shortly after today, I won't exist anywhere anymore. Tracking down Houndoom now might be my last chance to become a real hero. It's weird, isn't it? Three hundred and fifty two years and it feels like I haven't accomplished anything. Houndoom has always been my rival, but I've never been able to defeat him for good like I feel like I'm destined to."

"How do you know that tracking him down now isn't what leads to it?" Aamira asked.

Riolu stopped his meditation and turned to face Aamira. "I've tried to look, but I can never see anything directly related to my own life when I do something like this. You're from the future, so you must have some idea of what happens. Tell me how I die."

"I feel like that would alter history somehow. Then again, you did say closer to my time that you knew for a while. I guess I was the one who told you. I don't know what will happen in this world, but I know that at some point Houndoom will challenge you to a battle, but you'll put it off to go with Roy to the Other world to help me and my friends. We'll be battling the most powerful opponents that we've met up to that point. I can't speak for you about how strong they are though. For all I know you've fought worse. The battle will still be difficult though and you'll end up badly injured from it. When you travel back to your own time, you'll still be injured. With this injury, you'll go to fight Houndoom, probably against Giga's advice."

"So I'll finally defeat Houndoom and later succumb to my injuries? I guess that's a hero's death at least."

"Unfortunately that's not how it happened. You fought with Houndoom, but your injuries were too serious to cope with. You lost."

Riolu sighed. This was the first time Aamira had ever seen him look nervous. After that he cracked one of his ridiculous smiles and started to laugh. "Well I guess history isn't always accurate, now is it? I mean it's not like you can have visions of different points in time like I can! Let me guess, you got something like that from some old history book or something? Hah! Like I would ever lose to Houndoom, injured or otherwise. I've never lost to Houndoom!"

It was actually kind of admirable. She just told him that helping Roy is what would lead to his death and he just said he wouldn't lose to Houndoom even if he was injured. He was still going to help them even knowing it would lead to his death. "If it helps, you become a real hero when you help us. It might not be how you expect though."

Riolu was about to say something that looked like it was going to be some kind of argument, but at that moment Roy ran over, looking really proud about something. "I did it! I made a seal!"

Riolu took the stone and looked it over. "Looks kind of wimpy, but that's a seal alright. Not bad for a first attempt! Okay, so you already know how to make and release a seal, Aura Reading is really something you have to learn on your own and Aura Restore is way too dangerous to actually practice. I don't know what else I can teach you."

"There is one thing I've always wanted to do… Do you think I might be able to learn Aura Sphere?"

"Aura Sphere? A bit ambitious, aren't you? I guess I could try to teach you. I can't promise anything though." Riolu jumped down and walked in the direction of where Giga was sleeping. "You can try it while we travel. I don't want to lose any more time."

They were back to traveling, just as they had been before. Riolu had given Roy some exercises to help him with controlling his aura. This was something else that Aamira had been able to do just working off of instinct. At least for the basics. All she needed to be able to use Aura Sphere in the beginning was a good reason to use it.

She had the feeling that Roy must have been some sort of prodigy though. His aura, being a perfect balance of gold and silver, was really rare. She remembered how he looked the first time he had use Aura Sphere to rescue Quill, Lucario, Aamira, and his brother from Ninetales. He was stronger than Riolu gave him credit for. Maybe he just needed a good reason to fight too.

They had practically been walking for two days straight now. They were nearly out of food, mostly because of Aamira nearly being starved but that was always to be expected after picking up two unexpected allies. Aamira had walked farther and longer before, but she hadn't done it in months. Her feet were starting to hurt, but she didn't want to complain. Even so, that didn't stop Riolu from noticing.

"Those pokemon back in that village didn't hurt you, did they?" he asked.

"Oh, no. It was actually a Houndoom. It burned the bottoms of my feet to keep me from running away. The toxins in their fire are strong enough that for humans the pain never really goes away even after the scars from the burns fade."

Giga looked in his bag and dug out a book that Aamira had seen him write in once before. He flipped the end and started looking through the pages. "Near here there's a mountain made entirely of mica. There's a hot spring inside that's said to heal all types of pain. You're trying to fight your own enemy, aren't you? You should probably try it out."

"Even if it doesn't work, it could probably help with Roy's burns." Riolu added. "The trail's gone cold anyway. We might as well take a break."

They started moving towards the mountain. Aamira did feel slightly relieved at the thought of not having to put up with near-constant foot pain anymore. Aside from that, Roy's burns were pretty bad, even after Giga treated them. When they got to the outside of the cave, Riolu stopped them.

"Something's different from the last time we were here." Riolu said. "It looks like a dungeon cropped up in here since the last time we were here. Ah well. A bit of a warm up before fighting Houndoom I guess."

They headed into the dungeon with Riolu and Giga in the lead. Aamira and Roy didn't mind letting them do all of the fighting since they were both injured to some extent and they seemed to be having an easy time of it. Aamira couldn't remember the last time she went through a dungeon so fast.

"Unless the whole mountain completely changed, the spring should be just up ahead." Riolu said. Soon after, steam started to fill the cave, most likely from the springs. "Yea, it should be in the next room. I think there's someone ahead of here though. Maybe the boss. I don't know who it is, but they don't feel very strong."

Aamira had been enjoying just absentmindedly following them without needing to keep her guard up. Right when the dungeon boss's aura came within her range though, she froze to the spot and gave an involuntary shudder. No, it couldn't have been. How could he have followed her, even here?

"What is it?" Roy asked, being the only one who noticed Aamira's reaction.

Aamira walked towards the spring, which was surrounded by and almost encased in large mica crystals. The mist was thick, but she had to see for herself. Riolu and Giga could tell how serious the situation had become, so they backed away to let her pass ahead of them. It was hard to see from a distance, but there was a large spring hidden in all of the steam. When Aamira got close enough to the water's edge, she could finally make out a figure; a Zoroark, though much younger than the one she knew, covered in vicious fang and claw marks was floating on his back near the far end of the spring with his mane waving in the water behind him.

It was him without a doubt, though thousands of years younger. He was no threat in the state he was in though. Most of his wounds had been burned closed. They must have been really serious for him to want to go to those lengths. The rest looked like they had been closed by the salt in the spring. Still, there was no telling how long he had slept in the water like this or how long he would continue to. This could be Aamira's only chance. What was more, this was Zoroark's past self. She could save so many people from suffering. She took a step into the water, but Riolu held her back.

"Before you go doing anything rash, why don't you explain who that is?" Riolu said. "You've always dodged the question whenever I asked about him. This is the guy you're fighting in your time, isn't it?"

"I thought you had access to information from any point in time." Aamira shot back at him.

Riolu recoiled slightly, but didn't let go of her arm. "I do, but it's harder for me to see into different worlds without actually being in that world and I've never been to yours. I do know that it's because of this guy that you exist at all though, so would finishing your battle in this time really be a good idea?"

"I've faced the possibility of disappearing from existence before." Aamira said. "This time Quill and Lucario won't even have to grieve over it since they'll have never met me."

"I know and that's not what I'm getting at. You told me about your story once, how you saved the universe from being torn apart with Quill and Lucario, here in Desolo of all places. What would have happened if you hadn't been there? Would Quill and Lucario even be alive to grieve?"

That was a possibility, but the chain of events that led to that suggested otherwise. "Mew wanted to defeat Zoroark. Somehow that plan involved manipulating Ho-oh to move the humans from your world into other worlds, one of them being mine. To do that Mew framed one of my ancestors, who was later turned into a pokemon with her memory erased as punishment. She was the one who broke the Looking Glass and caused that near catastrophe. If Zoroark didn't exist then, this never would have happened."

"Maybe, but what if you do end your battle here and Mew doesn't know about it? He's an elusive pokemon. Even if you tried, you might not be able to find him before he puts this plan underway. What if something else had actually caused it and your ancestor took the blame for it? It wouldn't be the first time from what you just told me. I think you're about to make a risky decision here."

Aamira calmed down a little and turned to look at the half dead Zoroark again. "I always took you as the type who enjoyed taking risks."

"Not when the stakes are this high. You have to exist. You've had strong influences in other times too, even if you don't know it yet."

Aamira nodded. "It's just not fair. So many people will suffer because I can't finish him off here. He'll wipe out his entire species just so he'll be the only Zoroark. Then again, I don't think I would be able to do it anyway."

"I think it's a good thing if you ask me." Roy said. "You've always been a nice person, Aamira. I don't want you to change because of this guy."

"If you knew…" Aamira paused. "Maybe I should tell you, since I didn't get the chance to tell Lucario." She could tell that she had gotten their attention, so she continued. "A few hundred years in the past from this point, the Shadow King had taken over Atra and much of our own world, and was attempting to take over this world too. One thing he did was create a monstrous pokemon, which he referred to as XD001. A few others referred to him as Shadow Lugia, or just Shadow for short. Shadow was a loyal follower, until the day he was sent to the mainland to wreak havoc for the first time. He was caught in a storm and wound up with amnesia. A lot happened after that, but I'll skip ahead to when he found out about being created by the Shadow King. He flew back to his fortress in the middle of the sea where Shadow had been created and confronted the king.

"I don't know how he did it, but the king started to take control over Shadow again, which caused him to go mad. In his madness, he was said to have attacked and eaten the weaker king. The Shadow King was, after all, just a human and no match for a pokemon on his own."

"What does that have to do with that pokemon there though?" Roy asked.

"It's as Riolu said. History isn't always accurate. This pokemon here, Zoroark, has the ability to disguise himself however he wants by using illusions. In my world he uses a human persona named Xerxes, which is a name he's used once before. While a human would have easily been defeated by Shadow, a pokemon might have survived. What you see here in front of you is the remains of the one who had once ruled Atra. This is the Shadow King."

They all allowed this revelation to settle over them for a while. Giga took out his book and started scrawling something in it near the very back of the book. Riolu was the only one to raise an argument.

"So you're saying he's been in this condition since Shadow attacked him? That's impossible! If he was hiding here, healing, all this time we would have seen him the first time we came here. Where was he hiding then? There was no dungeon then either, though now I see why it's here."

"I'm sure these injuries came from Shadow. It explains his disappearance from history for such a long span as well. My guess, judging from the burns used to close his wounds, is that he was at a different spring and the same person who closed his wounds carried him to this one when their location was compromised."

Judging by his expression, something had finally clicked in Riolu's mind. After three hundred and fifty two years of fighting Houndoom, he finally realized who it was he had been working for.


	28. Chapter 28 Inevitable Fate

Riolu stared at the unconscious Zoroark, not really knowing what to think. It was hard to believe that such a frail looking pokemon was someone as strong and widely feared as the Shadow King or that Riolu had been fighting one of his minions for his entire life. He watched as one of Zoroark's eyes opened slowly. It looked like he was having some difficulty doing even that much.

"You seem to know much about me, human." He said in a low, raspy voice. "Not many people know my identity from then. I'd assume you're one of mine in the future, but what would I want with some human? I despise your race and everything about it."

"That's not how I remember it." Aamira said. "I didn't even realize at first how attached you had actually become to me."

Zoroark gave a low laugh that slowly turned into a violent fit of coughing. The amount of salt in the water kept him from going under, but it didn't help reduce the pain at all. "I've learned not to become 'attached' as you said. Of course, I already know all about you. I called you Destiny because it was your fate to serve me, but you decided to go by a different name. Aamira 'Brighteyes'."

"How would you know that?" Aamira asked.

Zoroark gave another one of his laughs that turned into another violent coughing fit. "You'll find out soon now, won't you? What you didn't notice is that I was always there, watching you, from the very start. I'll agree my future self has become soft from being around your race for so long, but I believe it was necessary to accomplish our goals."

"I don't even know what it is you're planning, but I know it's nothing good. Whatever it is, I'm going to stop you even if I can't do it in this time."

"Silly child. You don't realize that from my perspective, I've already won. My victory was many years ago when I was still a child."

"You're awake. That's a rare sight these days." Houndoom walked into the cavern and up to the hot spring without paying any attention to Riolu or anyone else. He was a little larger than the last time Aamira had seen him. Before he looked like an adolescent, but now he looked fully grown. The most striking change was the size of his horns. They had been almost stubby the last time she saw them, but now they were starting to curl around his head like the Houndoom she knew from her time. "Did these kids wake you up?"

"It's fine." Zoroark said. "I was just greeting my future servant. Do what you want with them, but keep the human alive. She has somewhere to be in a while."

Houndoom nodded. "As you wish."

That conversation seemed to take all of Zoroark's remaining energy. He fell asleep again, leaving Houndoom to attack Riolu. The attack was so spontaneous that Aamira and Roy didn't know how to respond, but apparently Riolu and Giga were used to this sort of attack from Houndoom. It was like they almost thought of it as a game. Maybe they did, but the battle soon got too serious for Giga, Aamira, and Roy who all stayed huddled near the wall.

It really was a shame that Aamira never really got to see him battle. She had never met anyone as fierce a fighter as Riolu. She thought that if the two of them ever battled, she would be completely worn out within the first five minutes, maybe less.

They started off pretty even. Houndoom was at a slight disadvantage, being a dark type. If history was right in this case, Riolu most likely evolved shortly after returning for his final battle with Houndoom. This would have made him stronger, but also gave him a type disadvantage to Houndoom. They would be on even footing then, but for now Riolu was fighting fiercely with his lesser power, taking every chance he could to use Houndoom's type disadvantage to his advantage. Houndoom was still a serious battler though and they doubted Riolu would have been able to hold him off for long if it wasn't for the steam and water reducing the power of his fire.

It probably was because of the environment that Riolu was eventually able to gain the upper hand. Riolu might have been a fierce battle, but that was the extent of it. His fighting style wasn't very refined compared to Lucario or Mienshao. There was nothing wrong with using the environment to his advantage, but it was clear who would be winning if not for the steam.

Houndoom wasn't about to go down easily though. Riolu was able to use his smaller size to dodge around him, but just barely. Each time he tried to attack, Houndoom would swing back around to face him and be ready with a counter attack. Finally Riolu got lucky. He dodged a Smog by diving under Houndoom and getting behind him. Houndoom swung around to counter his next attack with Flamethrower, only to find that Riolu had kept moving instead of standing to fight as he usually did. Riolu hit Houndoom in the side with an Aura Sphere that sent him crashing into the water.

Aamira, Giga and Roy ran to the edge of the water with Riolu. The steam around them and salt in the water were so thick that it was difficult even to see Houndoom's giant black form in a room made entirely of the whitish stone. He should have floated to the top because of the salt if he was unconscious. As time passed, they started to think he might be staying down there on purpose, possibly by grabbing onto a crystal at the bottom.

Riolu looked like he was about to dive in after him when Houndoom jumped out of the water near Roy, bit his arm, and dragged him back towards the wall of the cave. Houndoom pressed one of his paws against Roy's back to keep him pinned down. Roy couldn't use any of his attacks, which were all short range, so he tried focusing his aura in his palm and firing it at Houndoom. The incomplete Aura Sphere made contact, but dissolved immediately.

Houndoom laughed. "How cute. Is this one of the hatchlings, Riolu? He certainly fights like one."

"How do you know about the eggs?" Riolu growled at Houndoom.

"I've known for a while. I meant to go visit them and your dear Arcanine, but I've been busy ferrying the old fox between various springs in various worlds while carrying out my mission."

"Mission? What kind of mission?" Riolu asked.

Houndoom dug his claws into Roy's back. "You're not really in any position to be interrogating me. I figure I can use this situation to my advantage though. I'm looking for a pokemon that exists in this world. It wasn't always a pokemon. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"I have no idea." Riolu said, though Aamira knew this wasn't the case. He had told her about Alakazam just a few hours earlier.

Houndoom laughed. "Somehow, probably because you're you, I doubt you don't know anything. Not that it matters. I'll find them either way, even if I have to tear this world apart while doing it. I guess you have no use to me then, do you?"

"Wait, what do you mean by find 'them'?" Giga asked. "Who else are you looking for?"

Houndoom dug his claws into Roy's back again. "I thought I made it clear who was doing the interrogating. Maybe not. Well I didn't have many questions. Let's make this quick then, shall we? Riolu, I'll let this one and your other friends go. Just step forward."

Riolu stepped forward, separating himself from the rest of the group. Before Houndoom could attack and finish off Riolu, Aamira ran in between them.

"Oh move away, you silly human!" Houndoom growled at her. "Do you want your friend to get hurt? I said I'd let him go, didn't I?"

"You also promised your master you wouldn't hurt me. So what will you do after you're out of hostages? I never thought you were the disobedient sort."

They were at a stalemate. Aamira wouldn't move in order to prevent Houndoom from attacking and Houndoom wouldn't release Roy or it would have meant he would have lost. Giga was too scared Houndoom might still hurt Roy if he came too close, so he wasn't able to intervene.

Riolu, from behind Aamira, grabbed onto one of her arms in a reassuring gesture. "Aamira, it's okay. This has always been between Houndoom and me."

"This isn't just about you though!" Aamira snapped at him. "If you don't go to the future, we won't be able to turn Mew back to our side. One of my friends will have died. I probably wouldn't be standing here now if you hadn't gone back to the future. And Houndoom, I never would have returned to my own world to where Zoroark was waiting without Mew sending me there. He gave me a reason to go and the only reason he did was because Riolu fought him first!"

Houndoom considered this. Even if it was true, he couldn't just let Roy go or they might attack him. If anything, it just meant that he lost and he wasn't fond of losing.

"Houndoom, she's telling the truth." Riolu said. "That other Riolu there is important to future events also. Nothing can happen to him either. You're trapped, but you don't have to be. I know how desperate you can get in situations like this, so I won't force you. How about this then. I know you know where the Brass Tower is. You were born in its shadow, if I'm not mistaken. I'll let you go now and I'll meet you on the top floor at midnight in three days. We'll finish this there, once and for all."

Houndoom looked between Zoroark, who was still unconscious in the water, and Riolu and Aamira. They couldn't hurt him. He heard them say so. Houndoom had no way of knowing the future, but he was sure they were determined to keep things going the way they were meant to. Zoroark had said this human was supposed to go back. That meant that whatever purpose she served hadn't been finished yet. What fools they were, conspiring to bring about their own downfalls.

"Fine. Three days at midnight, then." Houndoom picked up Roy with his teeth by the scruff of his neck and tossed him to his friends. There were many wins and many losses for both of them in the past, but this was the first tie. Their final battle would be his if he had anything to say about it. He didn't give them a chance to reconsider and left the cave without another word.

Roy punched the ground hard enough to leave a good sized dent in the soft crystals. "I'm completely useless aren't I? How am I supposed to be at all important to the future!?"

"You're not useless and you're extremely important!" Aamira said. "We couldn't have won without you. The entire time we were looking for you and had no idea you were in a completely different time. We were so worried. Sandshrew definitely didn't think you were useless at least."

"How long do I have to wait until I'm strong enough to stop people like Houndoom? How far into the future is this huge battle I apparently help with!?" Roy shouted.

"From what I can guess…" Aamira said, thinking back to Riolu's challenge to Houndoom. "Three days."

"We can talk about this later, can't we?" Riolu asked. He looked really agitated at how events played out. "We should worry about getting out of here first. We're fine, but these aren't the sorts of temperatures that humans can withstand for long."

Aamira looked down at her arms, expecting to see them boiling or something, but she hardly felt the heat. She was covered in moisture from the steam in the cave. The humidity was so high that she wouldn't have been able to sweat at all. She should have been about to pass out, but she had hardly noticed how hot it was until Riolu had said anything.

Having nothing else to do, they left the dungeon. Aamira would pretend afterwards that she had forgotten the reason they had gone there, but the truth was that she was disgusted at the thought of soaking her feet in the same spring that a half dead Zoroark was floating in. What she had really nearly forgotten was her reason for going to Desolo in the first place. There were more important things to worry about than her own predicament though. She had to make sure things went the way they were supposed to. She would figure out a way to fight Zoroark later.

"The first thing we should do is get Roy back to the Other world where the Aamira from his time will need him." Riolu said. "It's not an easy world to get into though. The only pokemon I know that's capable is Stantler, but there aren't any in this world that I know about."

"What about that pokemon we met last time?" Giga asked. "Her power might be strong enough and she doesn't live too far from here."

Riolu nodded. "Yea I was thinking about her too. Just thinking out loud. She kind of gives me the creeps, but I guess there's not much of a choice. There are plenty of Bronzong here, but they're not strong enough to open a portal to that world."

"So where is this pokemon?" Roy asked.

Riolu pointed to a distant mountain range. Even the smallest peak was much larger than the mountain they had just been to. In the very center was a large mountain that was almost perfectly straight. From this distance, Aamira nearly mistook it for a giant tower. It extended so far up into the sky that they could see where it cut through the clouds, but the peak of the mountain was nowhere in sight.

"She lives up there?" Aamira asked.

"No, she lives in a valley next to that giant mountain. Yes, she lives up there. It's the only place in Desolo where you can see the stars, which is what she gets her psychic powers from. Her powers are said to be strong enough to tear open rifts between dimensions. She'll be the only one in this world capable of sending us to the Other world."

Riolu walked off ahead and Aamira ran to catch up with him. Roy tried to follow but Giga held him back. "I think we should leave them alone for now. Riolu isn't the sort who enjoys being protected."

Riolu was a fast walker and a little difficult to keep up with, but eventually Aamira managed to walk up beside him. "What's wrong with you? Earlier you were so cheerful even after I told you what was going to happen."

"Why did you interfere?" Riolu asked. "I don't know what I was going to do, but I wasn't just going to give into Houndoom. I didn't need you to protect me!"

"Yea, well the future needed me to." Aamira reached out and grabbed Riolu's arm to get him to stop. "You want to be a hero, I get that. Honestly, for a while I thought you were one. You really underestimate yourself where it matters, but you're mostly just overly arrogant and selfish. I can tell you for a fact that you're never going to become a hero until you learn to put your own desires aside for the sake of others."

Riolu laughed bitterly. "If that's true, I guess that makes you some big shot hero, huh? You were supposed to be looking for a way to fight Zoroark, right? But now you're obsessed with 'protecting' the future. Time isn't something that needs protecting. Things always go exactly as they're supposed to go. There's no way to change anything and no reason to. Paradoxes don't exist and traveling to the past won't change the future. Traveling to the past does nothing but ensure events that were already inevitable."

That wasn't true and Aamira knew it. She had witnessed it for herself. Hunter had come from such a world, the existence of which was only prevented when he and Ruko had traveled back to their time. It was difficult to say what exactly they did to affect it, but somehow their presence made a difference. It was thanks to them that Aamira hadn't turned into some kind of monster. How could the future be inevitable when she had witnessed it change with her own eyes? But then there was what Zoroark had said. "You don't realize that from my perspective, I've already won." What if Aamira, like Riolu, was walking into some sort of inevitable fate?

"Did I ever tell you my real name?" Aamira asked Riolu.

Riolu's expression softened a little. She guessed from this that he had and that he, like her, realized the purpose behind Aamira's name. Zoroark already knew what would happen. The outcome was her destiny.

"You did tell me once about a splintered timeline where you became a horrible person and all of your friends ended up dying. I've never seen a splintered timeline. Maybe it's not just anyone who can make one, or maybe that's just another way time fixes itself. But if that future ever did really happen, why wouldn't Zoroark have known about it?"

This was one thing Aamira couldn't answer. It really didn't make sense. If time flowed like a river, there were some vicious undercurrents along the way. It was true that Zoroark didn't seem to know anything about the splintered timeline. And maybe if that was true, the future wasn't so inevitable after all.

"Come to think of it, a lot of stories say you had been a Lucario for many years before your final battle with Houndoom. Some sources aren't as accurate as I used to think, as you pointed out though. Maybe you didn't die though. Maybe something else happened and everyone believed that you had died."

Riolu nodded. "Maybe. The pokemon we're about to meet though… I'd really rather not meet her. Do you accept the world you're in now? You wouldn't want to change the future for anything? Never mind, don't answer that. I know you said a friend of yours will end up dying if I don't save him. I guess I'll have to go after all."

There was something he wasn't telling her, but since when was keeping a secret ever a crime? The important thing was that he was calmed down enough now to focus on the mission ahead of them. They stopped to rest in the foothills around the mountains. How many days would this have made that Aamira had been in Desolo? It was so easy to lose track in a world where night never came.

Riolu finally slept for the first time since they had met up. The way he and Giga slept by leaning against each other's backs reminded Aamira of how he and Quill would sleep whenever they were on an extended mission that lasted several days. Aamira tried to sleep, but she just wasn't tired. Riolu's talk about inevitable futures, even though they had come to the false comforting conclusion that it wasn't really inevitable, made her nervous. She tried to sleep and ended up just laying awake with her eyes closed.

From the sound of things, Roy wasn't asleep either. She opened her eyes only partially so she could see what he was doing. He was struggling to create an Aura Sphere. The one with Houndoom had been pitiful. When Riolu first tried it, it had exploded. That would have at least done some damage to Houndoom, as unstable as it had been. Roy's had simply fizzled out though. It probably had something to do with their personalities.

Roy looked like he was getting frustrated and eventually gave up, sitting on the ground and breathing heavily from the effort he exerted to create the Aura Spheres. Aamira got up and walked over to sit next to him. "Not as easy as it looks, is it?"

"I guess I'm just not as good as you." Roy said.

"You know it's funny. After we all found out about you being an Aura Reader, we all thought you were some sort of prodigy. I wouldn't worry too much about Aura Sphere. You've technically already done it once, so you'll be able to do it again."

This just seemed to confuse Roy even more. Of course he had never done it from his point of view, so he couldn't imagine himself being able to. "What's your secret?" he asked.

It had been a long time since Aamira was able to use Aura Sphere. She could still remember the feeling of when she first consciously used it though. "You need a reason to use it. I don't think it would work as well if I just told you what your reason was. You need the strongest possible motivation to use aura in this way though. Like you need to be in a situation where you just want to throw your whole being into it."

"Something I feel so strongly about that I'd want to throw my whole being into it?" Roy looked down at his paws. "I'm not sure if I have anything like that though. There's nothing I'm really passionate about. I mean I guess I used to really like investigating, but it just slowly died and became something I did just because I always have. I think I know what you mean though. Something with that spark to it."

"If you know what I mean then there must be something."

Roy's head drooped a little. "There used to be. I just don't have anything worth protecting anymore."

'Worth protecting, huh?' It was weird how people could just decide for themselves what was worth protecting. She knew what he meant though. More than that, she understood it. "I'm sure you'll find something. You might not even realize it. It'll just be a split second thing where you don't even think about it; it'll just happen. You should get some sleep though. You've wasted a lot of your aura by practicing. You'll need all of your strength later."

Roy nodded and started to get up to go lay down next to Giga and Riolu, but hesitated. "It's because I'm holding back too much, isn't it? I need a situation where I have no choice but to not hold back. I don't think I want to use Aura Sphere if that's the case, but I'll use it if I need it because I'm able to. What about you though? How can you keep fighting without something even like the most basic of attacks?"

"For the things worth protecting." Aamira placed her hands on the ground. Roy was someone she could really relate to. Because of this she realized that maybe humans and pokemon weren't so different after all. Maybe she had been underestimating herself just as much as he had. She let her aura flow into the small area on the ground that her fingers enclosed. It happened so slowly that it was hard to notice the little sprout growing between her hands, but soon a little Lunar Flower had bloomed between her hands. It wasn't the field of flowers that Lucario was able to create, but it was something at least. All she needed was a situation where she didn't have a choice but to not hold back.

Roy stared at the flower, completely entranced by it for a moment. He smiled and went to sleep next to the others. After expending that little bit of aura, Aamira found it easier to sleep too. She realized, almost grudgingly, that it was probably because of the stones her mother left that she was able to do something like that.

In a few more hours they were all up and ready to go again. The mountains hadn't been nearly as close as they thought they were, even from the foothills. They really were the largest mountains Aamira had ever seen. She wasn't looking forward to getting to the top and was overjoyed when she heard that they didn't actually have to walk all the way there. At the base of the tallest mountain was a small house where a Gardevoir lived. That Gardevoir was friends with the pokemon at the mountain's peak. For people like their group, who her friend was somehow expecting, she would teleport them to the top.

Even thought they were teleported near the top of the mountain, they still had a good distance to climb. It wasn't beyond Gardevoir's ability to teleport someone all the way up, but it was better to let people get used to the change in air density instead of making them suffocate instantly. From the point where Gardevoir teleported them to, the walk was only a few hours.

They had been inside of a cave in the mountain for so long that they were almost startled when they came out of it and found themselves under a starry sky.

The pokemon waiting for them laughed. "Impressed? It's almost like the real thing, isn't it?"

Aamira walked up to the "sky" and ran a finger along it. The stars shimmered as she touched them. It didn't feel like anything real. It was almost like some sort of metallic liquid. She thought maybe it was what mercury would feel like if she ever decided for some reason to touch mercury. "What is this?"

"The stars of my home." The pokemon said. "I've never been there, but my great, great grandmother came from there. She passed down this ability to create a vision of the stars in our world. She said that the first thing she noticed when leaving her world was that the stars weren't the same. That's why she did it."

"So you must have lived somewhere else originally." Roy said.

The pokemon nodded. "Yes the same world you hatched in, in fact. The stars are very important to us. They tell us… many things." She turned to Riolu, but quickly averted her eyes just as tears started to form in them. Riolu looked away from her and pretended to be interested in the star-covered wall. "My name is Gothitelle. You're here to go to the Other world, aren't you? I will send you there. It is necessary."

"Can you tell me something before we go?" Aamira asked. "What will I go home to?"

Gothitelle wiped the tears from her eyes and stared into Aamira's. "I've tried to look, but I cannot see. Your world is a distorted one. The slightest interference could change anything. I've encountered this problem before. If I were to tell you what happens in your future, those events would no come to pass and therefore I wouldn't have been able to predict them. On the other hand, if I try to predict those events and keep them to myself then I would see the alternate chain of events and the possibility of me telling you would still remain even if I didn't. Therefore I cannot know these things, for you specifically are what will bring them about. Your future is certain for absolute uncertainty."

"I'll be the one specifically to alter the events that will come about? Maybe it's always been like that, but it's a little overwhelming actually knowing that."

Gothitelle smiled slightly. "Perhaps. But you're not the only one who plays a part in altering the future events. I can't see it, but I can sense it. Your destiny is chained to so many others. All of them have an influence over the flow of events. A tree that would never grow leaves would certainly die. It is the same for your fate."

Was it just a coincidence that she decided to use a tree for this analogy, or did she know more than she was letting on? It didn't matter. Gothitelle was right. Anything could change the future now. It was too delicate and there were so many factors. She would never tell her. It didn't really matter. The future would be the present and then the past soon enough regardless of the outcome.

"Now then, I will send you to the appropriate point, meaning both time and place, in the Other world. From there, your various quests will be entirely up to you." Gothitelle turned away from them and raised both of her arms up towards the walls of psychic energy. The semi-sphere of energy wavered and was replaced by a new set of stars. She placed both of her hands together and concentrated her psychic energy between them. When her own strength became almost too much to bear, she unleashed her psychic attack on the starry sphere, creating a spatial rift in the sphere. "Continue onward. Though not all of your futures are certain, I'm sure that each of you will find exactly what you need to continue on your quests."

The four of them walked up to the rift and, somewhat nervously, slowly made their way through. Once all four of them were through, the rift closed behind them. They had been sent to some sort of canyon. Aamira recognized it almost immediately. This was where she and Lucario had been separated.

Aamira took a moment to explain her observation and also the rules of this world to Roy. Having no other leads on what they were supposed to do, they decided to try to find out what had already happened. They made their way to the place where Aamira had released Mismagius. The signs of their battle were all around. It must have happened a while ago. Maybe a couple of days. They continued following the trail from what Aamira could remember. It was weird realizing now that the entire time she had worried about Roy, he had been in her footsteps the entire time.

She found the cave where she had stayed with Mismagius after dragging her to safety after being attacked by Honchkrow. It was still such a horrible and vicious memory. From there they attempted to go to the Satus Ruins, but the way into that sector had apparently been sealed by some unmet condition.

"So what do we do now?" Roy asked. "This is the only way we know how to get to where you were in this time, right?"

Aamira tried to think of another way. They could wait for the passage to reopen, but she had no idea what the condition for it might be. Maybe people had to enter in groups of two, or maybe humans weren't allowed to go that way, or two of the same species of pokemon. It could have been anything. They were wasting time though. They couldn't afford to wait.

"We ended up at the Eye of the Moon. Do either of you know another way to get there from here?" Aamira asked.

"The Eye of the Moon, now why would you need to go to a place like that?" Aamira was attacked viciously from behind. Her head hit the stone covered ground, making her dazed for a moment. The others had already gotten prepared for a battle, but battling this pokemon was the last thing they needed right now."

"Mismagius!" Aamira shouted. "It's so weird seeing you again. The last time we met wasn't exactly a cheerful reunion."

"I don't want to hear it." Mismagius said. "How is it that you became a human again? What a horrid little thing you used to be. Don't tell me you've actually gone back to the way you were back then. And here I tried to be kind by showing you mercy. I let you go when you were vulnerable and snuck off while you slept. Why then did you take on your human appearance again!?"

"I'm not the same person who I was back then." Aamira said. "I'm not the Aamira from this time; I'm from a couple of years into the future. I know the sort of person I used to be back then. That person… still exists. We're not the same person anymore though. I can promise you that much."

Mismagius backed away, looking a bit unsure, but started to waver in the air. She still hadn't recovered from her injuries from when she was attacked by the Murkrow. That attack must have taken a lot out of her. "Why are you trying so hard to appease me?"

"Because I know you're not really a bad person. It's strange to finally admit it to your face, but you've been nothing but a victim in all of this. I need you now though. Do you remember when Honchkrow told me to go to the ocean? That's what you need to do. I really need your help even though I'd always be too stubborn to admit it. You would benefit from it too. You'll finally find the answer you've been searching for."

Mismagius smirked. "What happened to never letting me win, no matter what?"

"To tell you the truth, I didn't go through with any of this willingly. You mainly just pushed me around the entire time."

Mismagius laughed. "Alright, maybe I'll consider it. I don't understand what's going on or why you're here, but right now you look more pathetic than I've ever seen you. What happened to that mischievous light in your eyes? Finally been extinguished for good, have they? Sank too deeply into your darkness, perhaps? I don't think that's the reason. Whoever's the cause, I'd love to meet them. To think someone would be able to prevent even your eyes from smiling. You of all people—"

Aamira started shaking. She had to close her eyes in order to keep from looking at Mismagius. She always knew just what to say to get at someone. "He has Quill and Lucario."

Mismagius fell silent. "I'm sorry. I actually mean that too. You should get back to your own time then, shouldn't you? What are you scared of?" Mismagius turned away from them. "I could use a vacation after being stuffed inside of that crystal again. Maybe a nice visit to the ocean will do me good after all."

"Hold on a second!" Aamira jumped up to her feet. "I know what I just said that I would always be too proud to admit it but… I really need your help. You stole the Aura Scepter, didn't you? That might be the only way I can beat him. Please… Tell me where you hid it."

"Oh, why didn't you just say so? Of course I'll give you the Aura Scepter. I have no use for it, after all. What terrible timing for time travelers though. I just came back here from hiding it. It's in a dungeon up ahead of here. It's the only one around so you should be able to find it."

"Thank you, Mismagius…"

Mismagius smirked again and started heading off in the opposite direction. "No need to thank me. Hearing you finally desperate enough to beg is reward enough."

"I guess that's it then." Aamira said. "You guys should head for the lake. The eclipse can't be too far off now. I think I can manage on my on from here."

Riolu shook his head. "No way. We're sticking together until the last minute. In a world like this there's no way to know for sure what you'll come across. Besides, I'd feel insulted if you let that rude Mismagius help you and not us."

"I feel the same way actually…" Roy said. "Mismagius still makes me nervous. I guess it makes sense why she kidnapped me before though. Maybe she knew from the start I was supposed to be an Aura Reader?"

"I'll go wherever Riolu goes, so you're stuck with me too." Giga added.

Aamira sighed. "It's great having friends, but you three really are a pain to travel with."

They found the dungeon easily enough, as Mismagius had said. It wasn't that hard to get through, but it was probably the best Mismagius could do in her current condition. The entrance to this dungeon led to one that Riolu said was in Atra, which he could tell by the dungeon's aura. It was weird how you could get to any time or place in the Other World. Aamira guessed this was probably the reason why they weren't around when the eclipse started. That meant they were pretty pressed for time though.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally found their way to the end of the dungeon. They found the Aura Scepter there on top of a stone slab. Aamira immediately rushed over to it and picked it up. It looked so much smaller now that she was a human. It was a better size for her now anyway.

"Well it's great you found it." Roy said. "Now you can finally beat that guy in your time."

That sounded great. She would beat Zoroark and free Quill and Lucario. Her nightmare would finally be over. Just as she thought this, she realized that it would never work. It had taken the combined efforts of Roy, Lucario, and herself to seal away Ninetales and she was just another one of Zoroark's henchman, nowhere near as strong as he was. Aamira was able to do some miraculous things in the past when she needed to, but even she could see that she would quickly reach her limit. Besides, Zoroark could get rid of shadows with his illusions. He would be able to figure it out quickly and erase his shadow before being drawn into it. This plan would never work. But finding the Aura Scepter hadn't been a waste.

Aamira turned to Roy and handed him the scepter. "You take it. You need it more than I do right now."

"You can't be serious!" Roy said. "You went through all of that trouble to find it and you're just going to make me use it instead?"

"I didn't really think about finding the Aura Scepter in your time, so it didn't occur to me that this was how you ended up finding it. This isn't something that could be used to beat Zoroark. I'll just have to find another way. Even though I have no ideas whatsoever…"

"Whenever I'm stuck and have no idea what to do next, I take the time to look through my notebook or some of my other belongings for something that might help." Giga said.

A lot of good that would do. Still, what else could she do? Aamira looked through her bag and found something that she hadn't paid much attention to since she first got it. It was the silver ring that Landorus had given her.

"You had something like that with you all this time and forgot about it?" Riolu asked.

"It's not something I ever wanted to use." Aamira admitted. "Besides, Zoroark already defeated Landorus once. Even if Tornadus and Thundurus helped, I don't think they would be strong enough."

"He's that strong, is he?" Giga asked. "Why don't they just use the Reveal Glass to take on stronger forms?"

"It's been missing for hundreds of years apparently." Aamira said.

"Reveal Glass?" Riolu said. "You come up with some weird names for these things, Giga."

"It's the name Landorus and the others call it by." Giga said. "I just thought it would be more appropriate to call it by it's real name."

"So it has another name? What is it?" Aamira asked.

"It's only called the Reveal Glass by those three legendaries." Riolu said. "I think it's a stupid name honestly. There's a more common name that most other people know it by. It's called the Reflecting Mirror."

For a second Aamira thought she must have misheard. There was no way. The one thing that could possibly help her defeat Zoroark had been right there in front of her the entire time? This treasure that had been the Aura Readers' secret for so long was really the same mirror that went missing hundreds of years ago? No, there was no way. It was impossible that the treasure that had been missing for so long was the same one that Aamira had stared at nearly every day for more than a year. It was all Aamira had to go on though. She had to get back to her own world now.

"I think I know what I have to do. It's my last chance, I think. I don't like using the power of legendaries for my benefit, but I guess I need to use whatever chance I get."

"Good luck to all of us then!" Riolu said with his usual smirk.

The three of them worked their way back out of the dungeon. Of course right at the end they would encounter the most powerful pokemon they had met in the dungeon. It was an Absol, which they only took note of after the sudden earthquake that made the ceiling above them collapse right over Roy. Aamira pushed him out of the way without thinking and they were both trapped behind it with Giga and Riolu on the other side.

"Aamira! Roy!" Riolu shouted frantically.

"I'm alright!" Aamira shouted back. "Aamira is too. She saved me from that cave in."

"Hang on, I'll use Aura Sphere to break up the rocks and get you out!" Riolu shouted.

"No!" Aamira shouted back. "It's too unstable. You'll just create more cave ins. Look, you two just hurry on ahead. We need to be careful about this, so we'll take our time to get out on our own."

They could tell that Riolu and Giga were frustrated by the sudden change in events by the long period of silence that followed. "I won't just leave you two here!" Riolu finally shouted back.

"You still don't know when to listen to what people tell you do you, Young Master?" They heard Giga telling him from behind the cave in.

"I… I thought I told you not to call me that anymore." Riolu said. "Whatever… Fine, we'll go ahead, but you'd better be right behind us, understand?"

"We got it. Don't worry; we'll catch up." Roy shouted back to them.

They heard Giga and Riolu running off ahead and Roy and Aamira immediately started to clear out the rock fall. It didn't take them too long with both of them working together, although they still had to be careful to prevent any more cave ins. By the time they managed to make a big enough gap for them to escape through, Riolu and Giga were already far ahead of them.

"So we just run after them and meet up later, right?" Roy asked.

"Not exactly…" Aamira said. "I'd really like to help, but this is your mission now. I have to get back to mine. This world leads to every other possible world, including every possible time. I'll manage from here on my own."

"Are you sure?" Roy looked worried, but they didn't have much of a choice. "Well before you go can I ask you…? No, never mind. That's something I want to find out for myself. I shouldn't be asking you about future events."

"It's fine. It would probably be for the best though. So I think if you keep running up ahead you should run into Riolu. He and Giga separate for some reason. I guess Giga catches up later, but I'm not sure."

"Alright. Good luck to you with your mission then." He turned to run after Riolu and Giga, but stopped for a moment. "Just… be careful, okay? You're my best friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Aamira nodded and watched him run off. His best friend, huh? She guessed she must have felt the same way before. It had been so long, though, that she had the chance to spend time with him. She knew what he meant though. Sandshrew was his brother and probably his real best friend, but it was different being friends with someone who wasn't family. Aamira felt the same way with Quill. He was more than a friend. Lucario… She wasn't sure how she felt about him. Things with them always became over complicated by events like being captured by Zoroark.

She knew a way she could find out where to go, but it wouldn't be easy. Before she had always used her Aura Reading ability while touching a person or object and using the aura imprinted on whatever she was touching as a guide. Theoretically her ability would still work even without touching something, but it wouldn't be easy without that aura imprint to guide her thoughts. It took her hours of her mind aimlessly wandering for her to finally figure out the path she needed to take. If she tried to draw a map it would be nothing but random colors jumbled together with a few random words written on it. It was strange how this ability worked sometimes, but she had a vague idea of where to go.

It took a couple of days to get where she needed to go and find a lake hidden deep inside of a cave. She could sense the familiar energy of her own world in its depths. It occurred to her that her past self might very well be leaving at this exact moment to go to her world for the first time. It could have been that she had already left. It was hard to say in a world where time was so greatly distorted.

After finally escaping, it was difficult to go back. She wouldn't just abandon Quill and Lucario. She had to go back for them. Even if Lucario was beyond saving, she had to try. She jumped into the lake and swam towards the bottom. The pressure was intense farther down, but not too unbearable. The water started to glow around her the farther she got to the bottom of the lake. About halfway there, she stopped. Gravity had reversed, as it sometimes did in this world and she was now swimming upwards. She could tell from the energy that she was still going in the right direction, but it had confused her for a moment. Finally she reached what would have been the bottom of the lake and put her hand against the rocky surface. What had once been solid stone was now the surface of the water. She swam up above the surface and quickly got to shore.

She was in a familiar place. It was the lake in the hidden garden that Victini sometimes watched over. She looked down into the lake, but there was no sign of the Other world in it. All portals to different worlds from that one must have been one way paths.

A warm wind blew around her, drying her off quickly. She looked towards the dead tree near the center of the lake. Victini was sitting on one of the roots. He was trying to act calm, but it was obvious he was really glad to see her.

"Where have you been?" Victini asked.

"Had some errands to run." Aamira looked back at the castle. "Beautiful day here, isn't it? Perfect for overthrowing a king. Want to join me?"


	29. Chapter 29 The Truth About the Flames

Victini was a little apprehensive about fighting Zoroark in case Zoroark found out about the near infinite energy supply he could control. As much as he pretended he didn't want to though, Victini would do anything to avenge Anima. He agreed to go along, but he would only use his ability if it was desperately needed.

What they needed to do was sneak into the castle and find the Reflecting Mirror without being found by Zoroark. If Aamira called Landorus before then, it would cause a commotion. For now she was on her own with Victini.

"So how can we get inside anyway?" Aamira asked. "There are guards everywhere and there's no way for me to tell which ones of them are just doing their job and which ones are working exclusively for Zoroark."

"You used to sneak out every night to play with your friends. Zoroark knew about it, but you were really careful. I don't think you even told your friends where the secret passage was, but there's a way in somewhere that Zoroark doesn't know about."

"I think I have an idea. If I snuck out that way, I must have gone back in the same way, right? If you could take me to where I used to play with my friends, I might be able to find the way in."

Victini nodded and vanished right in front of Aamira's eyes. "I hope you don't mind but, I'm going to hide myself. You look a lot like Anima and the guards uniform is a little conspicuous. It probably wouldn't be good if people saw us together."

Aamira nodded. "Yea, that's fine. Actually, do you have something sharp I could use?"

Victini didn't answer. Aamira had been able to faintly sense his aura before and assumed he had gone off to find something. A few seconds later he appeared with a pointed piece of broken glass. "Will this work?"

"It'll have to do, I guess." Aamira took the glass and walked towards the edge of the lake. She looked down at her hair, which now extended past her shoulders. She almost felt bad about doing it, but she had to disguise herself better. It was even more difficult than using a knife and it pulled a lot and it definitely didn't look good, but that didn't matter. It was good enough that no one would recognize her instantly. She left her hair just long enough that it would hide her scars. They were still visible, but not like they were before. No one would recognize her at a glance, hopefully.

Victini turned invisible again and led Aamira through the town. No one paid too much attention to her. Not the way they would have anyway. The people in this town were friendly and greeted nearly everyone they passed. They had no idea there was a monster staring down at them possibly this very second from the top of Maze Castle.

Victini led Aamira to a park near the outside of the town. It was close to some of the train tracks, but it was fenced in so any kids playing here wouldn't get hurt. Aamira couldn't remember a thing about this park, but it still gave her a haunting sense of nostalgia.

More than four years ago, a girl had played here with her two friends. That was the first time she disguised herself as a boy so that the people in charge of watching over her wouldn't notice. Someone did notice, the Captain of the Guard who went by Faris, but he also thought that she needed friends, so he let her do what she wanted while secretly watching over her.

Some time before that girl would travel to an entirely different world, a disaster fell upon this city. The girl didn't show up at the park that day, but she was in the area where the disaster originated. She asked her friends to meet her there that day. Her two friends, which were also brothers, had an argument that night. The older wanted to play in the park as usual and the younger wanted to meet their friend in the town. That was exactly what they did. When the older noticed the smoke rising from the place they would have met, he ran to find his brother and friend. Until then he was worried for both. The one and only victim of the fire, though, would of course be his younger brother.

Maybe at one time she gave a speech about fire. Maybe they had started a fire to stay warm the first time they met in the forest. It might have been something small and insignificant that made him realize whose fault it was. She would also believe it had been she who started the fire. When she denied it, she would be denying it to herself as well. She would run from the city, knowing she had just lost her only two friends, not knowing she wouldn't return for more than four years.

Of course, that girl wasn't the one who started the fire. The origin of the fire was the person she was trying to hide her nightly escapades from; the very person she hunted now. In reality, Zoroark had known about her escapades from the very start.

"Hey kid!" A voice shouted, snapping Aamira out of her nostalgic trance. "Throw our ball back, would you?"

Aamira looked down. They had been playing baseball, Aamira's own game of choice when she was younger, and the batter had hit foul ball over towards her by accident. She picked it up and threw it to the pitcher, who staggered backwards a little when he caught it.

"Wow, that's a good throwing arm!" He looked a little closer and took a few steps towards her. "Wait, is that a trainee uniform? No wonder you're so strong! But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training or something?"

"I'm recovering from a head injury." Aamira moved her hair so they could see her scars. "Sometimes we'll spar with pokemon to improve our reactions. I guess I still need some work."

They stopped their game and went to look at the scars. They all looked around her age, but of course she looked younger than them. It must have looked weird that a kid younger than them was training to be a guard.

"I thought you had to be fifteen to start training to be a guard. How old are you?" one of the other kids asked.

"I just turned thirteen two weeks ago. My mom is a guard and my dad is a knight, so they let me start training early. It's not like I can really do anything though. I don't really have any authority, so mostly I just exercise and get beat up all the time."

"Sounds pretty rough." The pitcher said. "You want to play with us? You must not get to very often."

"No not really. I used to play with a kid around here actually, but I never found out where he lived. I thought I would see him if I came here, but I guess he stopped playing here. He looked kind of like me, but his eyes were blue and he always wore a hat."

"I've seen him before." One of the kids said. "You must have been training a long time. He stopped showing up more than four years ago. There were these two other guys that used to play with him, but I never saw you."

"Do you know where he might live?" Aamira asked.

The kid who answered pointed towards one of the farther exits of the park towards an area that led across some tracks. "He walked off that way when they left. It was always really late at night."

"You don't know anything more than that?" Aamira asked. "Oh well, I'll figure it out. His partner was always running away, so I'll probably find him if I see his partner. If she still runs away constantly."

Aamira and Victini left the kids to their game and went to look for the path that she used to take when returning home each night. They were held up for a few minutes by a passing train, but proceeded unhindered afterwards. The sun was setting and the moon would be up soon. They had to get inside by then or Zoroark would find her. He would probably be able to recognize her even with a disguise.

In the train yard was when she finally started to get that familiar feeling like she knew where she was going. This was a somewhat safe area in her mind, so she probably hadn't been as on guard while in this area, which is why she was able to develop a habitual memory of where to go here. Her feet just automatically carried her to where she needed to go, like they undoubtedly did years ago.

Her lingering memories of the path she used to take led her to a huge drain. She placed her foot on the edge and it moved slightly when she pressed down on it. This felt right. There were probably drains like this all over the train yard in order to keep water from building up near the tracks and making them rust.

Aamira pulled open the drain, which was surprisingly light, and stepped onto the ladder just inside. She closed the drain above her, jumped down, and landed on the edge of one of the city's underground waterways. Victini made himself visible and generated heat near his ears to make them glow and light up the waterway.

It must have taken about an hour to walk the length of the waterway. There hadn't been a single branching path, so it was impossible for them to get lost. It was a little more difficult to tell where they were going while under the ground, but it felt like they were heading in the direction of the castle.

After a while, they reached an area where the water next to them was blocked off. They continued to follow the path, which soon narrowed into a narrow hallway. The solid stone walls were replaced with stone brick similar to the ones that made up the castle. At the end of the hallway was a ladder that led upwards for what must have been hundreds of feet. Even with Victini lighting up the passage, Aamira couldn't see the top.

Victini flew ahead in order to give Aamira some light to see where to put her hands and feet. About halfway up Aamira started to get tired and Victini gave her just a little energy to keep going. By the time she had gotten to the top, she was tired but not entirely exhausted.

Aamira pushed open the trap door at the top and climbed out. There had been a box filled with various types of fabric and half sewn pokemon dolls on top of it. It must have been used to hide the door. Aamira climbed out, closed the door, and placed the box back on top of it, hoping no one would notice her fingerprints in the dust. It would have been obvious if her team was investigating some case linked to it, but with this much dust, would anyone ever come in here?

She was in a closet of some sort. Aamira opened the door to the main room, startling a Leavanny who was making the bed in the dusty room. The Leavanny looked just as surprised as Aamira did, but Aamira was ready to fight if she had to.

"Who are you?" Leavanny asked, staring at her and then the closet door. "How did you find that passage? Wait… Destiny?"

"Do I know you…?" Aamira asked.

"Oh it really is you!" Leavanny walked over to her and wrapped her arms around Aamira. "The others will be so happy to hear you've returned. I'm so sorry that I've never had much of a chance to talk to you, but I really did worry about you a lot."

Aamira pushed Leavanny away, not too forcefully, but she didn't know who this pokemon was. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

All of Leavanny's cheerfulness faded. "So the rumor was true after all. I had heard from someone that you had lost your memory and you go by Aamira now. I thought it must have been someone else, you poor thing. I was kind of like your maid. Well, that's how I saw it anyway. I just take care of any place in the castle I could, but you were such a slob! Oh you'd clean your own room when asked to, but you never made your bed. Not even once did you remember to make your bed… But then that one night when I caught you sneaking out through that passage, you promised me you'd make your bed yourself from then on as long as I didn't tell Xerxes. I knew he wouldn't like it if he found out about you sneaking out. I agreed, but for years I wished I hadn't. That night there was a fire and you never came back. I was so worried, but you were never found in the burned remains of the city. It was believed a fire type pokemon had kidnapped you."

Aamira looked over at the bed, which Leavanny had been making when Aamira walked in. This was the same room that she had first woken up in when she returned to this world. It was just as dusty as ever, but the bed was the exact opposite, as it had been back then.

"Xerxes sealed off this room. We weren't supposed to come in here, just leave it exactly as it was and not touch anything. I couldn't help it though… It had just become a routine of mine. I couldn't accept the fact that something had happened to you." She paused for a minute before continuing. "I found out about Xerxes… Zoroark… some time after you vanished. I've felt like a prisoner, even a slave, since then. A few months ago I was told to look after a little Cyndaquil who was taken prisoner in the Mirror Palace. I tried to warn her but Zoroark found out.

"A few months ago a Quilava was brought here with a Lucario. I overheard his name and recognized him as the Cyndaquil's brother. He told me about you after I gained his trust, but I didn't want to believe the things he said. He's still there now. I hardly ever see the Lucario anymore, but it looks like he might have joined Zoroark."

"Not by choice…" Aamira turned to Victini. "Can I ask you a favor? Can you go with Leavanny to find Quill and help him escape? I think I can probably make it on my own from here."

"I'm supposed to protect you, not your friends." Victini said. "It was the last thing Anima ever asked me to do for her. I'm not going to leave you now."

"Victini, please. This is really important. Zoroark already took Lucario from me. I don't think he'd use Lucario as a hostage now, but if I get caught then both Quill and I would be in danger. It would be safer for both of us if you could get him out."

Victini hesitated, struggling internally with himself to try to figure out what he should do. "Alright. Leavanny, can you show me where Quill is? I'll turn myself invisible so you won't have to worry about anyone noticing me."

"I'd be more than happy to."

Leavanny and Victini left the room first so they wouldn't draw attention to either of their groups. Aamira's range was still so terrible that she hadn't been able to sense Leavanny from inside the closet, so Leavanny knocked the door once to let her know that it was safe to leave. Aamira waited a few seconds and left her bedroom, closing the door behind her and running as quietly as she could through the corridors.

The way the castle was designed and the fact that there were enemies lurking everywhere made it feel like she was running through a real dungeon. This was different though. The boss was almost impossible to beat, she had no team to back her up yet, and she couldn't let any of the enemies see her.

She had nearly gotten lost a few times while looking for the room where the mirror was held. In a castle that she probably aimlessly wandered constantly before losing her memory, she could rely on any residual memories to lead her. Every corner of the castle was both familiar and entirely foreign to her at the same time.

She attempted to trace her steps from when she first came back to this world. It was dangerous since it led her to the areas of the castle where Zoroark and his guards were most likely to be, but she quickly remembered the location of the room where the mirror was.

It was just a few more feet away. Once she got inside she would call Landorus and the others, get them to return to their stronger forms, and then the four of them could fight Zoroark and free Aamira's friends.

Aamira reached for the doorknob and immediately felt a tremendously strong yet familiar aura hurtling right towards her. She dove to the ground and landed on her side just in time to dodge the Aura Sphere that would have hit her in the center of her back. She managed to turn over so that she was facing Lucario, who by now was standing above her with another Aura Sphere ready.

Aamira just stared up at him, unable to do anything else about this situation. She waited for Lucario to attack her, but he just stood there looking down at her, Aura Sphere at the ready. Maybe he was just keeping her from moving while waiting for someone else to show up. Zoroark maybe.

Aamira just had to smile though. "Just like last time, isn't it? Did you just want to finish our battle? There's no one here to jump in and save me now, I guess."

"What's wrong with you?" He asked.

Aamira was now completely confused. Was he not attacking on purpose? "What do you mean?"

"I've attacked you and your friend on multiple occasions, so why aren't you afraid of me? Why can't you at least hate me?"

"Why can't I? Do you want me to?" Aamira asked. "I guess it's because there's not a lot to hate, especially when compared to Zoroark. Why didn't you attack me last time? You had plenty of time before you were attacked."

"I was deciding whether you were worth it or if there was even a point when you couldn't fight anymore. I wanted a battle and you lost the ability to give me one, so there was no reason to waste another attack on you."

"If that's true, then it still doesn't make sense why you would hesitate. If you didn't want to attack, what was the point of considering it?"

"Because I can't stand you!" he shouted, shocking Aamira into silence. "You've always been nothing but an annoyance to me! Always following me around and asking a hundred questions like you are now. How could you never tell how much I hate you? You never understood even a single hint I threw at you. I would have though that this would have been enough of a hint." He gestured towards the mark in the door left by the last Aura Sphere with his free hand. "And yet you still just smiled and talked as though speaking to a friend about the old days. What do I have to do to make you hate me? What about that friend of yours in the dungeon? Will you hate me if I hurt him?"

Aamira was on the verge of tears from some of the stuff he said. The way she "followed him around and asked a hundred of questions" felt like that could apply even to the way things were with the Lucario she knew. Did he maybe hold a grudge of some sort even back then? She didn't want to think about the threat he made to Quill, but even that was thrown into question. How would she feel about Lucario if he hurt Quill seemingly of his own free will? Maybe she would hate him then? Maybe, but the things he was saying definitely weren't of his own free will.

Aamira shook her head. "No, I don't think I could bring myself to hate you even then… It would just make me hate Zoroark even more than I do now."

"Why do you hate Zoroark so much and yet you don't hate me at all? It makes no sense. He at least acted civil to you. Have I ever done anything remotely friendly?"

"Yes, you have! If I told you, you'd think I was crazy! You'd never believe me, but you really were my best friend once. I'd hate Zoroark for every bad thing you ever do or think you've done because he's hurt you that badly and it's because of me. He's hurt you in ways you can't imagine; he's not the sort of pokemon he's probably trying to make you think he is. Zoroark is as evil as they come. What he wants me to do for him isn't benefiting anyone else but himself and his own selfish desires."

"I know that." He knew? There was no way Zoroark could ever turn a pokemon like Lucario into someone just as evil as himself. How could he be okay with this? "I don't care what sort of pokemon Zoroark is. I have my own reasons for going along with him and following his orders. You're wrong about him hurting me though. It's just the opposite; he saved me. The only drawback was having to deal with his yapping pet for a few years. I won't tell you what happened, I have no reason to, just know that I hate all humans. Most of all, I hate you."

"I get that. I feel like I should say 'you're welcome' for giving you something to vent your frusteration on. I feel like I should apologize too, but I'm not sure why. You're hesitating again though. I can't just wait around for someone to show up and rescue me. If you want to hit me with an Aura Sphere, go right ahead. I can't do anything to stop you."

Aamira shouted when Lucario hit her in the side with the Aura Sphere. Why there and not somewhere that would have knocked her out? He grabbed her by the neck and pulled her to her feet while forming another Aura Sphere in his other hand. "I don't remember needing your permission and I don't see why I should have to use only one Aura Sphere, do you?"

"Zoroark won't like this." Aamira pulled at his arm in an attempt to get free, but couldn't do so much as loosen his grip.

"I don't think he'll mind that I had to use force against an escaped prisoner who was putting up a fight. Maybe it wouldn't happen if you hadn't kept attempting to run, even after getting hit by the first two Aura Spheres. In case you're wondering, this is what we call a lie. Would Zoroark believe you if you tried to tell him the truth? I doubt it. It's almost funny really. He raised you like a daughter and even now I'm still his favorite." He used the second one to hit her on one of her arms. "You have no idea how long I've waited to do this."

Aamira almost wished that Zoroark or someone would show up and see what was happening. Even Zoroark wasn't needlessly brutal towards prisoners, or at least not to her. All she could do was try to withstand Lucario's attacks until eventually the pain was too much and she lost consciousness.

Aamira woke up some time later, staring down at a dark stone brick floor. Everything still hurt, especially her neck and wrists. Why did those hurt? She assumed her neck hurt because of how Lucario had been holding her up and also because of the position she had been asleep in. She lifted her head up the best she could and looked up at her wrists. Both of them were in shackles and chained to the wall. The room was small and dark, but she could faintly see an iron door with a barred window in front of her.

'Is this some sort of prison cell? Zoroark's never locked me up like this before. Was it Lucario that did this?' she grabbed the chains and used them to pull herself up to her feet. The chains were suspended up high enough that even while standing she couldn't put her arms down completely. She tried to walk towards the door, but she could hardly move more than a few feet in any direction.

Her arms were covered in bruises from Lucario's attacks and she assumed she had some more that she couldn't see in her position. How many times had he attacked her before she finally lost consciousness? She hadn't been trying to keep count or anything.

A light came on somewhere in the hall, casting a barred shadow into her cell. The light was blocked for a second before the door was opened and Zoroark walked in. Aamira looked towards the ground to avoid eye contact. Now more than ever she didn't want to look him in the eyes.

"And here I thought Lucario was a better liar than that." He said. "Your injuries looked a little too brutal for someone attacking a running prisoner and strangely enough you didn't have a single bruise on your back. You'll be happy to know that Lucario has been reprimanded for his behavior. I don't think it will happen again though. You do have a habit of running off though and for your own good I just can't allow you that much freedom anymore. I'm afraid I've had to take these more drastic measures to keep you where I want you. Don't worry, this is most likely temporary. There will be a full moon in another two weeks and at that point you'll be able to look into the mirror again, hopefully for the last time. Now on the matter of your escape and that friend of yours currently locked in the dungeon…"

"I didn't leave willingly. I was just dragged around everywhere by Lily and Hypno and tossed into the portal by Morrigan. You can't hurt Quill over something like that."

Zoroark considered this for a moment. "That's true enough. I can't really prove you were attempting to plot against me either. Except I distinctly remember that many years ago, I was laying half dead in a pool of salt water. You really did consider just ending our little conflict then and you probably would have if someone hadn't stopped you. What was it you said back then about stopping me in our time?" Zoroark walked towards her and pulled on one of the chains. "And what do you think you can do in the position you're in?"

Aamira still wasn't looking at him. How could she? He had put her through so much and dragged her friends into this mess. Knowing for sure now that he wasn't her partner somehow made it easier for her to hate him. Even before knowing what partners were she had felt like there was some sort of connection between them, but nothing like that was left now. More than anything, she just didn't want to look into his eyes and admit that he was right. He had turned Lucario into a monster and had no doubt treated Quill terribly. When she finally saw one last hope, once again she was intercepted at the last minute and by Lucario of all people.

She couldn't stand to look into Lucario's eyes anymore either. After witnessing his brutality, how could she ever not fear him? Hate him? Never, but fear was different. Even if she had found a way to revert Lucario to the way he used to be, she wasn't sure if she would be able to be near him without thinking back to what happened.

So yes, Zoroark was right. What could she do in the position she was in? Zoroark was thousands of years old and had conquered entire worlds before. Aamira was a human child bound by more chains than just the physical ones. What could she do?

"Can you just do one thing for me…?" Aamira asked while trying to keep herself from falling apart right in front of Zoroark. "I know asking you to turn Lucario back to the way he was would be asking too much at this point. Let Quill go. He has a family back home. You know what his younger sister is like. She needs him. There are a lot of other people who need him too. He might not look like it, but he was a real hero. I don't think I could have done anything without him. It's over though, isn't it? I don't think we need each other any more…"

"Look at me and say that." Zoroark told her.

Aamira looked up into Zoroark's eyes, a little hesitantly for whatever reason. Those yellow-green eyes still scared her, but it didn't matter anymore. "Quill and I don't need each other anymore. He especially doesn't need me. You win, Zoroark. Let Quill go; I have no reason to resist any more."

Zoroark smirked, not as widely as usual, but it somehow looked more arrogant this way. "I win? Of course I've won. I won from the start. I will agree to release your friend and allow you to sever your ties with him in this way. As you said, you now have no reason to resist. Honestly, this was easier than I remember it being."

"What do you mean…?"

Zoroark shrugged. "I had one last story to tell you. Perhaps I will anyway. If you think hard enough you'd realize that there's still one reason left for you to fight. I'll be more than happy to sever that last tie for you.

"Several years ago there was a mischievous little girl who would sneak out every night to play with her two friends. One night the two friends had an argument and one went to play in the park as usual while the other went to meet that mischievous little girl. What he didn't know was that she had gotten into some serious trouble and had accidentally started a fire in their meeting place. Soon the fire raged across the entire southern sector of the city, extending down almost to the docks. It was that fire that killed her friend and it was all her fault. At least, that's the way the older of the two friends had seen it. You had killed his little brother. In reality though, that fire was set by someone else. The very person who you were trying to hide your nightly trips to the city from."

"This is nothing new; you've told me this story hundreds of times." Aamira said.

Zoroark's smile widened and he walked towards her. "This is a far different story though. This one has a twist ending." He leaned down so that his face was just inches away from one of her ears and whispered the next part to her. "Years later this story was told by the King to his Princess. He told her this story and she finally believed after years of nightmares that she hadn't been the cause of her friend's death. But what happened to the older of the two? This is the best part. This entire story your King now tells you is nothing but a lie."

Aamira's eyes widened and she watched as Zoroark straightened back up and backed away a few steps. A lie? What did he mean by that?

"It's true!" he said. "In reality, there was no Teddy! There was no Lucas! Neither of these people ever existed! It was all a trick, a mere ploy put on by a masterfully-created illusion and a devoted follower!"

"That's not possible. The only illusions that can be touched or that can touch the environment are Phantoms and those didn't exist back then."

"No, but if you really had been touched or if whatever it was had touched its environment and created an illusion around itself, it would feel real. That's exactly what had happened. A true master of illusions had fooled you."

"It couldn't have been you that whole time! If you were in the castle, you couldn't have been with me."

"You're right. It wasn't me. Well, you're partially right, I should say. Why don't I introduce you? Are you ready to meet Teddy, the child you led into a deadly fire?"

Zoroark looked back at the cell door. The door swung open and a timid-looking child peeked in from behind the door frame. He had sandy brown hair and startling green eyes. Aamira's heart began to race. Was that really him? No, that wasn't right. This was an illusion. She could still see it, but it was also transparent to her, as all illusions were. No, it was actually a small pokemon silhouetted in the doorframe by the light from the hall.

The pokemon, realizing its illusion had already been seen through, walked inside and stood next to Zoroark. Aamira nearly gasped when he walked forward into the shadows, removing the halo of light from behind him. This little pokemon looked exactly like Zoroark.

"What's the matter, Des? Don't you recognize your best friend, Teddy?" The little pokemon smirked and started to laugh in a maniacal way that was all too familiar. Suddenly it all made sense.

"You're Zoroark, aren't you? Zoroark from the past."

Zoroark nodded and held out his hand to his younger self, who then jumped up onto his shoulder. "This is Zorua, myself from the past. Wouldn't you believe it? I was the one who originally started this whole plot that has so far extended for thousands of years. I influenced myself and never once questioned it. This was all preordained. You might even say that all of this, even your existence, was destined to take place."

"We really do have a lot in common. More than you might think." Zorua said. "Neither of us ever had much of a father and my own mother abandoned me just as yours did. It really is strange to admit this, but going to the future like this had made it seem almost as if I was my own father figure."

"How did you get to the future?" Aamira asked.

Zoroark stroked Zorua on his head. It was amazing how nice he was to himself compared to everyone else. "You might have heard that years ago there had been a Celebi who lived in a lake near here. Celebi would make frequent trips into the city to visit the clock tower, which she had a fondness for. On one of these visits, she didn't return to her lake. Why do you think Maze Castle is just that, a maze? It was to keep a legendary pokemon trapped inside. In the very depths of the castle, in the original castle that only I know the way to, there is a place where legendary pokemon cannot escape. That is where Celebi has been ever since I captured her. I have been using her power, against her will of course, to bring my past self back and fourth between this time and the past."

"This will be my last time here until time catches up with me." Zorua said. "I'm going to evolve tomorrow. Then the egg will hatch. When it does, the Shadow King will begin his rise to power. I'm sure you're probably wondering what I mean by 'the egg'. Well I'm not telling. You have no reason to know since you'll be as good as dead in another two weeks."

So even back then Zoroark had really enjoyed listening to himself talk. This at least explained why the Zoroark she recently met in the past knew about her, even though she wouldn't have been born for thousands of years later. He had already witnessed his own triumph hundreds of years earlier, back when he was still Zorua.

"So Teddy was really Zorua… And Lucas was working for you from the start." Aamira concluded. She felt hurt by this, but maybe not as much as she should have been. These two people seemed like complete strangers to her now. She didn't really care anything for them.

"You know, they were modeled after Lucario and Quill." Zorua added. "Zoroark told me about them, so in my future I'll model their characters after your friends. In a way, you'll know them before you even meet them. Just think, it's probably because of me that you would become friends with them at all, since they were so much like your old human friends. I've even influenced your life when you weren't here in this world and when you had amnesia and no contact with me whatsoever. You really should be grateful that I led you to such amazing friends. You're welcome for that, by the way." Zorua jumped off of Zoroark's shoulder and walked back towards the door. "That's all I wanted to stick around for. I have to go back and deal with Mew. Honestly, I have no idea how you put up with her for so long. She's so annoying."

"Don't I know it…" Zoroark replied bitterly as Zorua walked out of the room. He turned back to Aamira. "The hardest part was making that Teddiursa think that Teddy was actually her partner. She really had no idea her 'partner' was actually a pokemon. Of course it's always the human who can tell for sure, so how would she know? I shall take my leave now as well. I have a Cyndaquil to release and a Lucario to discipline. I shall see you in two weeks, my dear."

Zoroark left Aamira alone in the dark and in a small, windowless room, once again. Before she had developed the habit of pacing when locked in a room, but she couldn't even do that much with her wrists chained to the wall. She sat on the ground, or at least attempted to since the chains were too short, and stayed in that position for a length of time she couldn't even guess at.

Meals were irregular, always delivered to her by Leavanny, who would cast her an apologetic glance and run off as soon as she was finished with her errand. Aamira guessed she had been found out. Leavanny didn't seem like the traitorous type. She just hoped Zoroark didn't treat her too badly and that he didn't find Victini.

The darkness coupled with the closed in space and irregularly timed meals made it impossible to guess how long she had stayed down there. She had taken to sleeping most of the time, as uncomfortable as it was to do so. She had given up all hope of defeating Zoroark. What could she do? At least Quill was safe now. Zoroark was still the type to keep his word when he said he would do something, no matter how much he lied.

During one of her many naps, Aamira found herself sleeping under the tree on her island. It had been a long time since she had been here. When had that been? The last time she had looked into the mirror. Maybe that meant it was nearly over. Maybe it already was. She could have looked into the mirror already and just didn't remember it. She didn't feel insane, but she hadn't the first time either until she had woken up, half blind with her mind completely blank.

She looked around for Destiny, but she was nowhere to be seen. Aamira had almost considered letting her take over for the duration of her sane life. It would be better for both of them, wouldn't it? Maybe at least Zoroark would take off the shackles for her. She was nowhere to be seen though. Even in Destiny's absence, Aamira could tell that she wasn't entirely alone.

Floating off of the edge of the island was thin vapor, which almost looked like it had a form to it. It was almost like an illusion if the illusion was being cast by an amateur. The mist floated there "staring" at her until Aamira finally decided to try speaking to it.

"Who are you?" Aamira asked. Her throat was dry. She could really use some water.

"You can see me? Not very clearly, I'd suspect. I can't project myself too deeply into that accursed castle. I'm so glad you're alright. I thought you might have been hurt."

"I was. It doesn't matter. Who are you anyway? You seem familiar somehow, but I can't even really make out how your voice sounds. It's kind of like how Darkrai speaks, but you're nothing like him aside from that."

The mist moved towards her and completely surrounded her. For a second Aamira started to panic, but quickly calmed down and leaned back against the tree. The mist felt warm, but not like humidity or anything like that. She had felt this warmness somewhere before, but couldn't remember where exactly.

"Do you trust me?" the mist asked her.

Aamira nodded. She did trust it, somehow.

"I'd imagine so. The trust between partners runs deep, down to our very souls."

Aamira nearly jumped up to her feet. "You're my partner!? Who are you? What's your name? Where are you? Why… why haven't you spoken to me until now?"

"We have spoken. We have met before." Aamira felt an intense sadness coming from the mist. "I am so, so sorry for leaving you alone for so long. I can't make any promises, but we will see each other again one day. What was it you believed about not having anything left to live for?"

Aamira wanted to argue. She did have nothing left. This mist was some pokemon she never even remembered seeing. How could it have the nerve to say that it was what she had left? She wanted to say this, but she couldn't. The truth was she could easily hold a grudge against this mist, but she really was glad it was there. She didn't know what kind of pokemon it was; she just wished she could wrap her arms around it. She couldn't see its eyes, but she could sense it just as if she was staring into them. This pokemon, whatever it was, was her partner.

"When can I see you?" Aamira asked in a voice that sounded almost pleading.

Another pang of sorrow and even guilt came from the mist. "I can't make any promises. I'm in a bad state myself right now, but I promise we will meet one day in person. If your sanity holds out that long at least."

"What should I do? Tell me what to do."

"Don't give up just yet. There's still more that you can do. Just know that you can't do it alone. Don't worry; there will always be those willing to help as long as you let them." The mist and the energy radiating from it started to fade. "I can't hold out much longer. I'm sorry I have to leave you so soon. Have faith in your friends and in yourself. Zoroark does have a weakness, which he has guarded over obsessively since the day he hatched. I don't know what it is, but I know if anyone can find it, it's the members of the greatest Investigation Team ever to exist."

Aamira smiled and for the first time since she had been captured again, she finally allowed a few tears to escape. She woke up, back in her cell, still chained to the wall. Her sense of time had returned to her; tonight was the full moon. One way or another, her battle with Zoroark was about to come to an end.


	30. Chapter 30 An Ideal Storm

Aamira waited, alone in the dark, as she always did. She tried to remember that warmth that had comforted her in the darkness. This small, dark cell and her near-immobility didn't affect her like it did before. Her partner had spoken to her. Maybe it was just a dream, it really was hard to tell, but she was sure it was really her partner. She had more to live for and it wasn't even just her partner. Seeing Lucario the way he was affected by Beheeyem's memory altering ability had nearly made her forget.

Zoroark had taken over her country and had hurt so many people, including the previous king and Aamira's mother. If she couldn't save Lucario, she had to at least try to save the people, the complete strangers, who had once mourned for the loss of Tobias, Anima, and, more recently, the disappearance of their princess, Destiny. They were worth it, surely. Those kids she saw playing in the park would have at one point made her feel happy just to watch. Now she had barely paid attention to them, and for what? Just to fail to protect them from the monster that might one day threaten or harm them and their families. What right did she or Zoroark have to hurt complete strangers. For the people who had worried about her, who had lived in this country probably longer than she had regardless of their age, she would be able to fight even if it was against Lucario.

A small light flickered from the hall outside. Aamira pulled herself up to her feet with the chains. She recognized the flickering light of Quill's fire. She remembered what the mist had said about relying on her friends because she couldn't do this alone. It was right. She needed Quill as much as she ever did.

"Quill, I'm in here." She whispered under her breath. Quill's hearing was good enough that he could hear her even if a person imprisoned across the hall couldn't. she heard the pattering of his paws against the stone floor as he ran towards her cell. She watched as the light got brighter and the lock on the door started to glow red hot. Flames shot through the door when the lock was completely melted and Quill rushed into the cell followed by Victini. They both looked shocked to see Aamira chained up. Zoroark had never been inhospitable towards her before. They hadn't expected to find her like this.

Victini hovered a little closer to her. "Are… are you alright? They didn't hurt you?"

"Mainly just my pride, but what else is new?" Aamira said.

Quill laughed. "You liar. I can still see some of your bruises that haven't healed yet. Hold on, we'll get you out." He looked okay at least. Aamira was just grateful for that much. He had his bag with him, so Aamira assumed that Zoroark must have let him go. If he had escaped it would have been too much trouble to go looking for it.

Victini flew up to one of the chains and Quill jumped up on to one of her arms to get at the other. Both of them breathed a concentrated stream of fire onto the chain, heating it up. Aamira pulled on the chain when it was hot enough to glow and managed to break it. She looked at the chain, being careful not to touch it since it was still hot. It was long enough to make noise, so she would have to be careful.

"Come on, we have to get out of here." Victini flew off towards the door with Quill running after him

"Hang on, I'm not going to leave." Aamira said. "Tonight's the full moon, isn't it? I can still finish this before then. I just have to find my bag and get Landorus's ring from it."

"You can't be serious!" Victini said. "We can beat Zoroark next time, right now we have to go."

"And what's going to happen 'next time'? This will happen all over again. We have to stop him tonight or breaking in here will have been a waste."

Quill nodded. "I agree. What do we need to do?"

Victini looked like he was going to argue, but apparently decided that it wasn't worth trying it. Aamira had made up her mind.

"Victini, I need you to find my bag. Try to stay invisible, so don't bring me the whole bag. Just get the silver ring inside of it and keep it hidden in your hands when you bring it to me. We'll be heading to the room where the Reflecting Mirror is. You should probably already know where it is since Zoroark hasn't moved it since you lived here. Quill, I need you to stay with me in case we run into trouble."

Both of them nodded. Victini turned himself invisible and flew off to find the ring. Quill jumped onto Aamira's shoulder and they escaped the dungeons to look for the room where the Reflecting Mirror was. They met a few enemies on the way, both human and pokemon, and knocked them out as quickly as they could so they could keep moving without worrying about someone noticing them and alerting Zoroark.

They found the door a lot quicker than Aamira had on her own the last time and this time Lucario was nowhere to be seen. They waited impatiently for Victini to show up with the ring. While they waited, Aamira told Quill about what had happened with Lucario. He could hardly believe it.

"I'm sure there must be a way to save him." Quill said. "I mean how would you entirely alter a person's memory anyway? Even yours aren't entirely gone, right? You can still remember routes that you've walked or tell if someone looks familiar. I'm sure Lucario would at least get the sense that you were friends even if he doesn't remember it."

Aamira sighed and leaned back against the door. "Maybe you're right, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't even matter. So what happened to you? Did Zoroark let you go like he promised?"

Quill looked away from her. "I can't believe that you would actually beg him for anything, even to let me go. I can't think of any other reason he would though."

"Maybe I did, I guess that's open to interpretation. Yea, I'd say I practically begged him. I said I wouldn't try to resist anymore either way, I just wanted you to be safe." Aamira laughed. "I guess that's one difference between us. One of us is actually honest."

"There's nothing wrong with lying in a situation like this, I don't think."

Aamira nodded. "Yea, maybe. I hate how often I've had to lie. I guess it was something I had to get used to either way, being born a politician."

Quill covered his mouth to try to stifle his laughter. A little talking wasn't a big deal, but they couldn't be too loud or someone else would notice them. "Well, he did tell the truth. I was still wearing that Leuminite collar when he and Houndoom came to get me. They caught Leavanny just a few minutes before then trying to find a way to get me out, so I thought I was just being moved somewhere else. Zoroark told me about you begging to let me go and when I denied it he, of course, offered to keep me locked up. I thought it would be for the best just to go along with it.

"Houndoom blindfolded me and carried me out into the forest. I guess there was a part of the castle he didn't want me to see, I don't know. Well he left me there, pretty much defenseless because of the collar. Apparently Victini had been following us the whole time, so he looked for a pokemon who could break the collar off since attacks don't work against it. We met up with that Audino Lucario met when he first came to this world and Mienshao was with her. Mienshao was able to break it off like he was snapping a twig. After that we came up with a plan to get you out. Mienshao caused a distraction in town to draw as many guards to himself as possible. Victini would be able to sneak in on his own but I couldn't turn invisible, so I had to sneak around. I think Mienshao is probably still out there. He got the General to help him too somehow. Apparently she's an outlaw now? But it was really funny. The two of them were just knocking out guards and their pokemon left and right. Zoroark managed to make an enemy of the two best guards in Dellevis, didn't he?"

"Speaking of which, have you seen Faris or anyone?" Aamira asked.

Quill shook his head. "I think Lucario and I were locked in some special cell away from everyone else. We were always blindfolded when we were moved though so I couldn't tell. I never heard anyone either."

It had almost been calming while they waited for Victini to return. The way he returned wasn't what they had expected though. Lucario turned around the corner at the end of the hall, carrying Victini, unconscious, by his neck.

"It looks like we're not going to be able to avoid a fight after all." Aamira whispered to Quill.

Lucario threw Victini at Aamira's feet and held up a silver ring. "Back here again, I see. Before I thought it was a coincidence. Are you so anxious to lose your mind that you would go through the trouble of escaping? You know I was going to escort you here myself in a few hours."

"I don't know what happened to you or what you think happened to you, but following Zoroark isn't the answer." Aamira said while trying to keep her voice low and steady. "Let us do what we came to."

"And miss the opportunity for a rematch? This is looking more interesting than last time and there's no one to save you this time around."

"Just wait a minute, would you?" Aamira asked. "I get it, you hate me and want to fight and we will no matter how much I don't want to. Why don't you at least tell me what happened that made you like this."

"I wouldn't tell a human something like that." Lucario placed the ring on the ground behind him and formed an Aura Sphere. "Well? Both of you, let's go!"

Aamira had almost been determined to fight Lucario alone, but she knew she wouldn't have been able to win. He probably knew that too, which is why he wanted Quill to join in. Aamira wished that she had something to fight with other than her bare hands at least. She had become almost dependant on that wooden sword.

Even without a weapon of some kind, Aamira was determined to fight Lucario on her own for as long as she could. The only thing that saved her from losing the fight right away was the size of the corridor. Back on the mountain, Lucario had been able to wear her down quickly with his speed. In this confined space, his movement was limited.

Aamira managed to get a few good hits in, at least about as many as he could. Eventually Quill jumped in to continue the fight for her. She still had a greater enemy to fight against, after all. Lucario, in the condition he was in, was no match for Quill. If he had been his normal self, he probably would have been able to fight Quill evenly or even gain the upper hand. In this enraged state, his attacks might have been stronger but his strategies weren't nearly as great as they were before.

Lucario tried to retreat, but Aamira managed to block his escape route while Quill was attacking him. She managed to hit him in the back of the neck and temporarily paralyze him. She had no idea that Lucario and Riolu had that same pressure point, but it was a good guess.

Quill managed to get the door open by melting the lock again and dragged Victini inside. Aamira grabbed the ring from Lucario and dragged him in too.

"Do you think it's a good idea to take him too?" Quill asked.

"Would you rather he run off and tell Zoroark what we're doing?"

"Good point." Quill closed the door behind them and Aamira stood near the other hidden entrance. With Lucario in the condition he was in, he wouldn't try to escape either way.

"Why are you doing this?" Lucario asked. "I don't know what you're up to, but I doubt it's anything that's going to benefit me or Zoroark."

"It might benefit you. I don't know yet." Aamira turned the mirror so that neither of them would look in it by accident and took the tarp off of it, being careful not to look into it herself. She slipped the ring on and was about to try calling for Landorus when Lucario interrupted again.

"You're trying so hard. This isn't like you."

"How do you know if this is like me? I thought you hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. I doubt you've ever paid much attention. Besides, you can't remember what I'm really like. I've always tried hard to do what was right before."

Lucario stared at her skeptically. "You keep saying that I don't remember certain things. I can remember my entire life. How would that be possible?"

Aamira knew that this might be her only chance to change Lucario's mind about this situation, but she had to be careful with how she worded it. She was already Lucario's enemy as far as he was concerned. She couldn't make it worse. "That thing that happened that you never wanted to tell any human about must have been pretty bad, right? I have no idea what it could have been, but what if I told you that it never happened?"

"I'd say you were a liar." Lucario said. "If you must know, when I was younger my nest was attacked by some humans. I barely escaped but my parents and siblings weren't so lucky. Our spikes are considered valuable, so my species was hunted to extinction for them. My family was all that was left and now I'm the only one. I refuse to believe that this never happened. As terrible as it was, I wouldn't insult their memory like that."

"So you joined Zoroark who also hates most humans." Aamira said. "Now, as I remember it, it was actually Zoroark who hunted the Lucario in this world to extinction along with his own race. Maybe he did convince humans that the spikes were valuable and got them to do all of the dirty work for him, but it was all his idea."

"Is that what you meant when you said he had hurt me and I didn't even know it?"

Aamira smirked. "Look who's asking all of the questions now. He did make you think your family had been killed, but in a way they weren't."

"You're trying to tell me they're still alive?"

Now she had to be really careful. She was getting Lucario worked up over an event that never happened and a family that never existed. "In a way, you do still have a family. You have a dad and a brother. You only found out about the brother recently. You've never had more siblings than that though. Zoroark just made you think you did. All of that stuff that you thought happened never did. You spoke earlier like you had known me since we were both really young, but actually I only met you a little over four years ago."

"That's impossible! I would remember all of that. You can't just tell me that every single one of my memories is fake and expect me to believe you!"

Victini struggled to get up and floated into the air. "I have an idea. I probably should have done this when I went to get the ring, but it just now occurred to me. Lucario, I'm going to bring you proof. Until then, just wait here and listen to what Aamira has to say. I didn't know you for very long, but I saw you as a friend too." Victini turned invisible and the door opened momentarily and closed immediately after as he flew out.

"Oh, I get it." Aamira said. "Alright, I'll just tell you a brief summary of what happened while Victini's gone. The three of us, you, Quill, and me, came to this world to fight Zoroark. I'm the only one of us that's actually from this world, but you two, being my best friends, decided to help out anyway. I've helped you this same way in your world actually, so maybe you thought you were repaying me. I'm not sure. Things had started to go well when Darach turned traitor and led Zoroark to where we were hiding. We were captured and taken back here. Darach had built a device that could catch pokemon and force them to use their powers. He caught a pokemon called Beheeyem, who has the power to entirely alter someone's memory, and threatened to have him use that ability on you and Quill if I didn't cooperate. I didn't believe them at first, so they used you as an example."

Aamira had to turn around to at least keep from letting Lucario see her tears, even if she couldn't hold them back. "You know, I gave you such a hard time before. You had started an argument between us once before so that I would do what was best for everyone. I knew why you did it, but I still couldn't believe you had done it. I mean, why couldn't you have just given your opinion like any normal person? I guess if you had I probably wouldn't have listened. The thing is, even though I pretended to have forgiven you, I don't think I ever really did. I just kind of realized that once you became someone completely different from who you used to be. I never had the chance to say that I was sorry. I really am. I'm so sorry. With everything that was going on at the time, I should have at least shouted at you to let you know we were still friends. I should have let you know back then that even though Quill is like a brother to me, you've always been my best friend." Aamira wiped the tears from her eyes. "Actually, if I'm trying to be completely honest for once, you weren't just a best friend to me. Lucario, I—"

"Just stop there." Lucario said in a barely audible whisper. "This story is too insane to believe. I need more time to consider this before just accepting everything you say. I'd like to believe that Zoroark really is the villain in all of this and that I never saw my family killed, but me work with a human? That's just out of the question. I can't believe that it ever has happened or that it ever will. Just know that compared to whoever you knew before I'm a complete stranger, so don't go saying anything you'll end up regretting."

"Strangely enough, I don't think I would regret it."

Victini flew back into the door carrying Lucario's Collection Bag. "This is it. I would have brought yours too, but carrying two at once would have been too cumbersome and a lot more noticeable. I did bring something from your bag though." Victini handed the object he had taken from Aamira's bag to her and flew over to Lucario to hand him his bag. "This was yours."

Lucario stared at the bag for a moment before opening it and taking out the thing on the very top; his Master Rank Aura Glass. He stared at it and tightly gripped the handle and turned it over in his hand. He noticed his name written on the top of the frame. Aamira and Quill noticed that there was no team name written on the bottom, since he had never been part of an official team. What he must have gone through to get that on his own. Quill took out his own, which looked more or less the same, and held it up for Lucario to see. Aamira held up the object that Victini had taken for her; her own Aura Glass.

"You never officially joined us," Quill said, "but we're a team whether you remember it or not."

Lucario sighed and put the Aura Glass back in his bag. "My aura is imprinted on this. That's impossible to fake…" Lucario stood up, leaned against the wall, and held his head in his paws as if he had a migraine. "I won't get in your way. If you want to fight Zoroark, that's your own business. That doesn't mean I'm ready to help a human. I need time to think about all of this…"

Lucario walked past Aamira towards the hidden entrance behind the tapestry. Did she just imagine it, or did he actually look back at her this time? She had to believe that he wouldn't tell Zoroark what they were doing. Not that he even really knew.

Aamira waited until she thought Lucario was far enough away for them to continue. She didn't really know how to use the ring Landorus gave her, but she thought if any normal human would be able to use it, she should just be able to call his name. Aamira said Landorus's name to the ring and added that she needed his help. They waited for a few minutes before hearing a loud sound of shattering glass in the distance.

The door was knocked in and Landorus flew in with his tail trailing behind him like a kite tail. He stopped in front of them and wrapped his tail around his shoulder like he usually did. "You called?"

Aamira stared at the destroyed door and back to Landorus. "You couldn't have been more discreet?"

"With my size? No, I'm sorry. At least I didn't break down the front door. And flew in through a window instead."

"Yea, good enough I guess." Aamira put her hand on the mirror. "Is this the mirror you were looking for?"

Landorus looked at the mirror, although he didn't look directly into it. "No, this isn't it."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me…"

"It's a replica made for Cyrus and Darius, the sons of Tobias. It works the same way, but can only be used by an Aura Reader.

"So it's possible that I could use it to turn you back into your stronger form?"

"You're an Aura Reader! Of course you are! Yes, this could work. I shall call Tornadus and Thundurus at once."

"Are you sure about this?" Quill asked. "You'll have to look into the mirror again."

Aamira nodded. "I'm sure. It's the only choice we have left."

Tornadus and Thundurus arrived moments later through the same way Landorus had gone. Landorus explained the situation to them. They were both excited to get a stronger form back. As Landorus explained it though, their first forms hadn't been influenced by this world so their new appearances would depend mostly on this world's aura and how Aamira imagined them looking.

Aamira stepped up to the mirror with her eyes closed. This would be the first time she would ever look into it entirely willingly. She was nervous, but for the first time she felt that sort of unbreakable resolve that Cobalion and the other two had tried to teach her about.

She forced her eyes to open and stared directly into her own eyes. She wasn't looking for something this time, so she wasn't sure how it would work. She just tried to imagine Landorus and the others in her mind.

Maybe in her mind was exactly where she needed to be. The next second she was standing on the usual island that was floating in the air. Before she even had more than a few seconds to take in her surroundings, she was slammed up against a root of the giant tree by Destiny.

"I know what you're planning and I'm never going to let you do it!" She shouted.

"I have to do this!" She pushed Destiny back and managed to stand up. "Is this honestly what you want? Sure, you could just take control of me like you did before and run off to Zoroark. Without Riolu's help I probably wouldn't be able to get back in control, but then what? Regardless of which one of us looks into the mirror, we'll both still lose our minds when it happens, right? If anything you'd be in more danger."

"I know what I'm doing!" she shouted back. "The whole reason I exist is to do as he tells me and if he says to sacrifice my sanity in order to further his plans, then I will gladly. You just don't understand the life he gave us. You want to though; I can tell. There's still a part of you that's completely loyal to him."

"That part of me is you!" Aamira managed to push Destiny down near the edge of the island. The creature swimming below recoiled as if it didn't want Destiny to come near it.

"You said you didn't hate me, right? Why is that? How can you not hate me?"

"I don't hate myself so I can't hate you. I blame Zoroark for how you are. I don't pity you either. How could I ever pity you when I've moved on? Why would I when it was probably the only form of love you ever knew? I'm not that cruel."

Destiny stared up at her with wide fearful eyes. "You need me. You've always needed me. You can't just say that you don't now."

Aamira hesitated. What had she ever needed Destiny for? Maybe, if part of her wasn't still loyal to Zoroark, she would have already went insane by now. Maybe she would be too scared to make a single move against him. It was Destiny who was used to being around him, after all. Aamira couldn't remember any of her time working for Zoroark.

She didn't need to remember that. She had heard enough of the things Zoroark had done. She had seen enough and experienced enough to fear, hate, and on some level even respect him without Destiny. So why did she need Destiny? She was the only link to her past, the only link Aamira had to this world, even. But there were others. Faris, Lily, her aunt and uncle and all of her cousins, Felix, even if he still hated her, Victini, Mienshao, Bisharp, Audino, and her partner, wherever they might be.

"I don't need you anymore." Aamira stood up and held out her hand. "I know I can't get my memories back and I don't just want to make you vanish. Please, just go back to how you were before."

"Sealed inside your soul? No thanks."

Aamira sighed and put her hand on Destiny's forehead. She would have preferred it if she had decided on her own, but she could understand why. "I'll try to set you free someday. I don't know how, but I will."

Destiny pushed Aamira's arm away and tried to stand at the same time. She slipped off of the edge of the island and started to fall towards the dark ocean below. It looked like she fell faster than she should have, as if something was dragging her in. She looked scared at first and tried to grab at the edge of the island that was already hundreds of feet away and eventually looked resigned to what was happening, peaceful even. Just before she touched whatever dark energy made up the ocean, she was enveloped in light and vanished.

'Something saved her…' Aamira thought. She didn't feel Destiny in her mind anymore, but she didn't think she had died either. Her hitting the ocean's surface would have been bad, though she didn't know why, and something prevented it. She had no idea what might have happened to her, but Aamira sincerely wished that she would get another chance to live a good life somewhere.

"I can't afford to worry about her now." Aamira locked her hands together and stretched out her arms. "I have no idea how to do this, but it's time to think of some new forms for Landorus and the others."

She looked up at the tree. Something had caught her eye. That fruit that had been there the first time Aamira found her way inside of her mind was still there. She walked up to the tree and held her hand out. The tree obediently bent over far enough so that Aamira could reach the fruit. She placed her hand on it but didn't pick it.

"…Ah, so that's what it is. I guess this here is the last resort. Sorry, I don't need you yet. Maybe in a while though."

Aamira pulled her hand away and the tree straightened back up. She realized what kind of tree if was now. It was like the Tree of Life back in the Other world, capable of growing any fruit in existence. This once was only meant for her though, which is why she couldn't reach it with Destiny around. It would be important, but not yet.

Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus watched Aamira, who hadn't moved in around five to ten minutes now. They had no idea how the mirror worked or how long it took. Victini and Quill were growing increasingly anxious and went to guard both entrances. It was just a matter of time before someone noticed the broken window and then the broken door.

Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus all gasped in unison as if they were suddenly unable to get any air into their lungs. They started glowing brightly as if they were evolving and when the light faded, they looked entirely different. Aamira stretched and turned away from the mirror to look at the three of them, who were also examining their new forms. Landorus looked like a tiger or some other kind of big cat, Thundurus looked like a wingless dragon, and Tornadus looked like a giant bird.

"That didn't turn out exactly how I imagined it. I hope you don't mind these forms." Aamira said.

Landorus looked back at his tail, which he wagged back and fourth for a moment. "It could take some getting used to, but it feels okay. It doesn't surprise me that our forms don't look exactly how you imagined. They've been influenced by the Dragon Force to some extent. They're different from the ones we had before, so I guess you could call them Therian forms."

"Well I'm glad they're not too bad. I wasn't too sure, but maybe the Dragon Force fixed them for me. Anyway, I'm hoping I can ask you to do one more thing for me. I need help overthrowing Xerxes. He was the one who stole the real mirror and put that stone around Landorus's neck."

Landorus nodded. "We're in." Aamira rubbed her eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Just some eye strain; nothing unusual." Aamira walked towards the hidden door at the back of the room. "Let's get going. I'm tired of waiting to do this."

Somewhere deeper in the castle, Zoroark was sitting on his throne using his usual human illusion. He had his arms crossed in his lap and he was talking to Lucario in a calm and yet somewhat agitated voice. "I can hardly believe that someone like you was defeated by those children. Not that it matters, I'll just send some more competent guards after them."

"If I may interrupt…" Lucario said. "She's been caught by other guards before. I doubt she's learning anything that way. Why don't you just fight her yourself? It's what she wants and when she fails I doubt that she'll disobey you again."

"You might have a point." Zoroark rose to his feet and looked out the large expanse of windows that covered most of the front of the room. "I have another idea. Get the Reflecting Mirror and bring it to the upper balcony. There's a perfect storm brewing outside. I think I'll show her something that she won't forget any time soon. Maybe that will finally teach her a lesson. Then, when the storm has faded, she won't even have to move from that balcony. We'll finish this up there. Really I don't even need her to submit; I just need her to stay up there until I can force the information I need out of her."

Zoroark walked out towards one of the doors in the back of the room. Lucario waited for him to leave before turning back to get the mirror. There was no way Aamira could have fought all of Zoroark and all of his guards at once. This way she was at least guaranteed to battle him alone. He wasn't entirely sure about the story she had come up with before, but he had to admit the idea of her fighting Zoroark did interest him.

About an hour later, the storm was hovering dangerously close. Apparently Landorus's form gave him a heightened sense of smell. When they arrived in the throne room and found that Zoroark wasn't there, Landorus was able to point them in the right direction. They ran up the wide staircase that had such short steps that it felt like it took five minutes just to go up one floor. A castle built to be a virtual maze was really inconvenient at times.

Eventually Quill and Aamira jumped onto Thundurus and Tornadus's backs and let them fly them up to the top floors. They ran across the hall to the large set of doors at the end. Aamira pushed the doors open and ran out onto the balcony. It was the balcony used during ceremonies where the king or queen would address the entire city. Aamira wished that it wasn't storming. She guessed it was probably around sunset by now.

Near the edge of the balcony was Zoroark in his usual human disguise. Lucario was standing near him in front of the Reflecting Mirror. If he had been able to pass them and run back up there so fast, there was probably a secret passage. But if Lucario had told Zoroark about Aamira's escape, why hadn't there been an ambush or something? He must have set it up so they would be able to fight Zoroark fairly. Aamira suddenly didn't feel too good about getting four legendaries and Quill to help her.

She didn't think about that for long though. There was something wrong. Was it because of the eye strain caused by staring into the Reflecting Mirror? For the first time, Aamira looked into the eyes of Xerxes instead of Zoroark. She couldn't see through his illusion. She tried to hide it by looking down to the point where she though Zoroark's eyes were, but it was too late.

"What's this?" Zoroark asked in Xerxes' smooth, velvety voice. "Could it be… you can't see through my illusions anymore? How interesting." Zoroark let his illusion fade. "Well, this should be interesting, shouldn't it?"

Landorus stepped in front of Aamira. "You've done a lot to get here, just let us take care of it from here."

Aamira wanted to argue, but of course Landorus wanted revenge on Zoroark too. She really wouldn't have stood a chance anyway. Landorus, Thundurus, and Tornadus each attacked at the same time. Zoroark stood their calmly until they got about halfway across the balcony. He raised a hand, snapped his claws like a person would snap their fingers, and a huge bolt of lightning struck them from the storm clouds above. The electricity passed over Landorus, but Thundurus and Tornadus especially were both hit badly. Tornadus was knocked out instantly.

"Tor!" Thundurus shouted, barely able to stand himself. Aamira's eyes widened and she took a step back. How could anyone actually be that strong?

Landorus looked between his two injured friends and Zoroark. "Where did you get that kind of power?"

"From a legendary like yourselves. Oh the poor thing put up quite a fight, but was subdued in the end. It wasn't the only one either." He raised his right hand and a small flame appeared in it. "Unfortunately it's too humid to use this one to its fullest extent. Aamira, my dear, I have a new story for you. Long ago there were two brave kings who were the partners of the great dragons. After the war between the both of them had ended, each asked their partner to watch over their kingdoms after they died. Both dragons did so and eventually both would be imprisoned in the kingdoms they were, by that point, forced to protect. They would both escape eventually, but then many years later would realize that their prisons were also their sanctuaries. A certain pokemon started to hunt them. Both would put up a good fight, but in the end both would have no choice but to submit to me. That's the power that I now posses. I never intended to use it against you, but maybe this will finally teach you a lesson."

Thunder cracked overhead and struck somewhere miles away, making Aamira jump. A storm like this wasn't typical of Dellevis. Zoroark charged towards Landorus without warning and struck out with his claws. Before Landorus could counter, Zoroark hit him with Foul Play and Landorus was down like Tornadus.

Zoroark stepped up to Thundurus. "How does it feel to have outlasted your leader, hmm?" Zoroark used Night Daze and let loose a dark pulse of energy stronger than anything Lucario could ever do with his Dark Pulse. Just like that, all of the legendary pokemon were down. Zoroark nudged Tornadus's wing with the claws on his foot. "Was this your big plan? Restore them to some stronger form and use them to defeat me? Can't even fight your own battles anymore, can you? Really, I suggest you give up for your own good. Otherwise you'll experience what these three have. I can summon another bolt at any time."

Aamira ran back to the edge of the balcony and jumped up on the railing. "Do it then! See if you can find that key on your own when the spasms from the lightning make me fall a few hundred feet! I won't hide anymore and I'm not going to run. Just you and me, Zoroark. I won't ask for Quill and Victini's help."

Zoroark laughed in a way that Aamira wasn't familiar with. It took her a second to realize that this was genuine laughter. "A human fight me alone? I have lived for thousands of years, conquered entire worlds, defeated legendaries, led entire species to extinction, created a few new species, and hunted humans stronger and wiser than you for food and just because I felt like it. What makes you so special that you would think you could defeat someone like me?"

"What makes me so special? Well, that's your fault, isn't it?" Aamira asked.

Zoroark crossed his arms. "What do you mean?"

"You gave me a reason to hate you. More than one actually, and those reasons just keep piling up. I'm sure I'm not the only one like that though. Maybe it's just because I'm the most stubborn human you'll ever meet."

He did give her too many reasons to hate him. Hate and fear; what was really the difference? She did fear him and she had plenty of reasons to. All of those reasons just gave her one more reason to hate him.

For the longest time the two of them just stared at each other. Aamira was just barely able to resist the temptation of attacking first. She knew if there was any chance that she would win she couldn't just rush into the fight. She would have to be able to counter his attacks and be able to strike back harder.

After a long time, Zoroark finally attacked her. She managed to just barely dodge his claws and attack with a kick to his stomach. To her surprise she actually managed to hit him. She unleashed a fury of attacks, managing to hit most of the time while Zoroark managed to dodge a few. Zoroark actually looked surprised. Then just as she was about hit him harder than she had so far, Zoroark smirked and knocked her feet out from under her. He raised his arm as if about to strike and Aamira rolled away to avoid it.

Now she saw what was going on. He was just playing with her. He had taken all of those attacks on purpose and hadn't attacked her seriously even once yet. She continued to attack him regardless. It might have resulted in nothing but tiring her out, but she wasn't just about to quit now. Zoroark repeated his "strategy" of taking the majority of her hits and attacking. This time he managed to leave a good sized cut on the back of her arm. He was enjoying this and Aamira guessed his attacks were going to become slightly more serious each time. She needed a strategy, but what else could she do but continue to attack.

"Are you ready to give up yet?" Zoroark asked, sounding bored.

"No, of course not. I'm the most stubborn human you've ever met, remember?" Aamira attacked him again and the same pattern repeated itself. This time Zoroark attacked her with Night Daze. She figured out why it was called that at the same time. Aamira was hit by the attack and rolled back along the ground. When she finally managed to stop herself, everything was spinning and her eyes hurt more than they had before.

She stood back up, trying hard not to lose her balance and ran slowly and unsteadily towards Zoroark to attack him again. Before she even got close, Zoroark snapped his fingers. A bolt of lightning, smaller than the one that hit the legendaries, fell from the storm clouds above to Aamira. Aamira screamed and collapsed on the ground, no longer able to stand back up. Her heart was beating like crazy. She guessed that Zoroark purposely hit her just hard enough for it to hurt but not enough for it to be able to kill a human.

"Don't you get it yet?" Zoroark walked up to her. "Before it would have been impossible to defeat me, but now it's a wonder you're even trying. As long as you're under these clouds, I can hit you from anywhere. Can't you see how hopeless this situation is?" Zoroark raised an arm. "Maybe a new scar will teach you. Even better, let's see how you do without one of your precious 'bright eyes'. I suppose I only really need one of them."

Aamira flinched back before the attack came. He couldn't do that, she was going to do everything she could to prevent that from happening. Was this the right time? She had a feeling that it was. Just for a second, Aamira was standing back on that island. The young Tree of Life was bent down to her, allowing her access to the fruit. The second she had touched it, she knew that it was actually a seal on her mind. From Riolu's explanation of how releasing a seal worked, she knew she would be able to do it, no matter what her strength was.

Zoroark swung his claws down towards Aamira, but a bright light suddenly blinded him. He staggered back away from her.

"Let's see if I can remember how to do this." Aamira said before the light faded. "Drain Punch should do it."

Zoroark was hit by a fairly strong attack and pushed back several feet. How could a human ever get that powerful on their own? He got an answer right away. The light had faded just as it finally started to rain and in Aamira's place stood a Riolu with dark red eyes.

Aamira stretched out her arms which seemed strangely long to her compared to how they had been before. Or maybe they were just bigger, she really couldn't tell. She wasn't used to the aura censors tugging at the side of her head and she didn't remember them being so heavy. For a second her feet felt numb and she didn't really know why. Then it occurred to her that it had been her human skin, which she no longer had, that Houndoom had burned. Her feet were healed. She raised a hand to the side of her head. The scars were gone.

Quill smiled. It was great to see Aamira the way he knew her again. "Just remember you have a tail this time!"

Zoroark moved towards her in a threatening gesture. "What are you?"

"A Riolu." Aamira knew what he meant. This wasn't something that happened to most humans, but if he didn't already know about her being human-born, then she wasn't about to tell him. "I guess I should revise my previous statement." Aamira formed an Aura Sphere. It felt so refreshing, almost liberating, after all of this time. "I'm the most stubborn pokemon you've ever met!"

Zoroark managed to jump out of the way of her attack. Lucario just stared at her. Aamira noticed and stared back. It was probably because of him that she was even able to do this. She could only use her abilities in the presence of someone with a silver aura, so whether he wanted to or not, Lucario had already saved her.

Zoroark vanished and reappeared seconds later and attacked Aamira with Arial Ace. It did a lot of damage, but Aamira was surprised how it didn't hurt all that badly. This was the strength that she needed to fight him.

The balcony soon proved to be too small for their battle, even though it was the largest open area in the castle. They two of them were just too fast for the area on the balcony to entirely contain their attacks. After a while Aamira started to notice the shouts of people from down below. They knew something was going on by now, even if they didn't know what it was.

Arial Ace and Foul Play were the moves that Aamira really had trouble with and Zoroark figured that out quickly. She managed to get a lucky hit with Thunderpunch that left Zoroark paralyzed, but even then he was able to land a lot of hits. The only difference was that Aamira was able to land a lot of hits too and Zoroark was actually slowly taking damage.

Aamira attacked with Drain punch to heal again, only to be hit by Arial Ace again. She backed away and used Aura Sphere, which Zoroark countered with Shadow Ball. The two of them fought to land a hit, constantly countering each other's moves. Finally each of them managed to get a hit in and Zoroark followed his up with Night Daze. Aamira managed to dodge this time and attacked with Aura Sphere again. They started another barrage of Aura Spheres and Shadow Balls. This time Aamira switched it up and between attacks attacked with Sucker Punch. Zoroark faltered when he was hit by it and jumped back.

Aamira hadn't even noticed until then that she had been using her dark aura. Now that she really thought about it though, she had completely shut out everything but Zoroark at some point. She was so focused on the battle that she hadn't paid any attention to when it happened. She just suddenly found that for the first time she was completely in control of herself.

She formed two Aura Spheres, each swirling with dark energy, and attacked before Zoroark could recover from her last attack. He attacked with Night Daze again, but Aamira managed to dodge and hit him again with Drain Punch. Zoroark was thrown back against the railing of the balcony and collapsed on the ground. Was it over?

Aamira's head started to clear and she became more aware of her surroundings. The three legendaries had regained consciousness at some point and had been watching the battle. Victini was just watching in stunned silence, much like Lucario was, but Quill was actually smiling.

She walked towards Zoroark, not really knowing what she should do next. She had said it a few times before, that this would all end if she could manage to kill Zoroark, but she wasn't capable of something like that, was she? She wished she could remember what she had seen in the mirror. All she remembered was that red flash of light. If she could at least remember his motive to do everything he had done, maybe she could just talk to him.

She stopped right in front of him. It really would be for the best if she just ended this, but it was strange now that the tables were turned and he was the one at her mercy. It looked like he had been knocked unconscious. She reached down to turn him over.

Zoroark jumped up, snarling loudly and his eyes wide and fierce. He grabbed both of her wrists and summoned the flames to his hands, making them burn. He turned back to the edge of the balcony and pushed Aamira against the railing. Aamira couldn't help looking down. It was at least a drop of a few thousand feet. Even as a pokemon, she probably wouldn't survive it. She tried to use an attack, any attack, but with her arms caught in his flaming claws, she was completely helpless.

"You really are too stubborn for your own good, aren't you?" He said. "A few more years and you might actually be a threat. I can see I'm not ever going to be able to get you to surrender. I'd be better off finding the key another way; you've become a liability."

Zoroark pulled her up by her arms in an effort to throw her over the side of the balcony, but she was saved at the last second. And Aura Sphere hit Zoroark in the back hard enough to send him over the edge. Aamira, who he was still holding onto, managed to catch the edge of the balcony. She caught a glimpse of Lucario running to help her just before she lost her grip and fell with Zoroark.

The crowd that had gathered below screamed when they noticed two people falling. From their height they probably couldn't tell that it was a couple of pokemon. Zoroark had released Aamira and was bracing himself for the impact by rolling so that his mane was facing the ground. Aamira doubted that it would actually be able to save him, but she was more concerned with herself at the time.

It was a long shot, but it was the only thing she could think of. Aamira whistled as loudly as she could and waited. A few seconds later a Staraptor flew towards her from the direction of the forest and flew underneath her to catch her on his back.

"We should stop meeting like this." Staraptor said.

Aamira smiled. "Yea, thanks… I'm surprised you actually recognized me. Why do you keep helping me like this anyway?"

"Because anyone would, I think. I'm just the biggest flying pokemon in the forest so I'd be the only one able to carry you."

Aamira looked down at Zoroark, who was more than halfway to the ground. "I feel stupid for saying this but… I want to save him."

Staraptor changed direction and dove towards him. "I was hoping you'd say that actually. He's probably just as important as you in the events about to unfold."

"What do you mean by that?" Aamira shouted over the sound of the rushing wind.

"Pokemon really like you, right? We don't really know why ourselves. We think it has something to do with the shift. I don't really know what the shift is either, I think it was a name that was given to it because it feels like everything will change eventually. It's an instinctual thing. Anyway, most pokemon hate him as much as we love you. It's like you're meant to fight. I don't think it should end in his death though. It's much more fitting that you would save him and I'd be happy to help."

Aamira didn't really understand it either, but by that point they had almost reached Zoroark, so it was too late to reconsider anyway. Staraptor extended his claws and grabbed at one of Zoroark's arms. Zoroark slipped from his grip and fell to the ground, although not as hard as he would have otherwise.

Staraptor pulled up and flew over the crowd. He circled back around and landed some distance away from Zoroark. Aamira jumped off of his back and went to see if he was okay.

Lily, who had apparently been controlling the crowd with her partner, Faris, Bisharp, and Mienshao, drew her sword when Aamira approached.

"Hey, hold on, it's just me!" Aamira said. "I know I look a little different, but don't you recognize me?"

Lily let her sword drop slightly. "Destiny?"

There was a slight murmur in the crowd. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure she had ever told Lily the name she preferred. Even if she did, they hadn't spent a lot of time together. She would call her that now of all times.

"Yea… Never mind that now." Aamira walked up to Zoroark, who had survived the fall and was trying to force himself onto his feet. He looked badly hurt though. Aamira tried to help him up, although she didn't know why, but he forced her back with a slash of his claws.

He looked at his arm as he clawed at Aamira. It was the same one that Staraptor had caught in his talons. His arm had slipped out of Staraptor's grip, but his talons were made for keeping prey trapped and didn't open easily. His arm was covered in deep cuts from Staraptor's talons.

Zoroark's widened, not in the fierce way they had before, but out of… fear? Was Zoroark actually afraid? Zoroark grabbed his arm with his opposite hand and pressed his arm against the fur on his chest to try to stop the bleeding. The air around him shimmered and about twelve Zoroark illusions appeared around him. They each, including the real ones, ran off in different directions, getting mixed up in the process so that it was impossible to tell which was the real one.

"Hurry, after them!" Faris shouted at the guards who had been helping to calm the crowd. A few ran after the Zoroark illusions and the real one, but several other guards appeared, drawing their swords and attacking the loyal guards. Zoroark's followers had served him one last purpose. The crowd was in a frenzy, screaming at the fighting guards and demanding to know what was happening. Faris whistled so loudly that most of the people in the immediate area flinched back and everyone fell silent.

Faris walked over to Aamira, who was about to collapse after that battle, and picked her up. She didn't really mind it either. He turned back to the crowd. "I don't know all of the details of what happened on that balcony, but this is your princess and future queen who went missing more than four years ago. You might have noticed a change in the king's attitude after her disappearance. Reasonable, isn't it, that a parent would worry about their child? In reality it was the 'king' who had caused her disappearance from the start. That pokemon who just fled was, in fact, the Xerxes you've known for the past four years. He has the power to create illusions and disguise himself as various people. Four years ago he snuck into the castle. Xerxes died all of that time ago. He tried to catch her as well, but Destiny managed to escape. She was recently captured in an attempt to defeat that pokemon, but later managed to escape him once again. You might have noticed my sister, Lily, carrying her through the streets on the back of a Rapidash.

"She has returned to unmask the false king. I don't know the details of her strange transformation just yet, but I believe from what I could see from down here that it was a necessary one. There might be a way to reverse it, there might not. What matters is that in this tiny pokemon I hold is the soul of our new queen. For now she needs to rest and Lily and I need to search out the traitors in the guard. All of your questions will be answered soon."

Faris turned away from the calmed crowd and walked back towards the entrance of the castle. It felt strangely like home now that Zoroark wasn't there. Aamira wasn't afraid of people noticing her anymore. She let herself finally lower her guard after all of this time and fell asleep in Faris's arms.

Aamira woke up in her old bedroom, which Leavanny had completely cleaned after seeing Aamira had returned, and decided to see what evidence she could find of Zoroark's plans in the castle. There was a lot of cleaning up after him to do. The guards, who had all been approved by Lily and Faris, either nodded to her politely or looked at her a little nervously. This would take some getting used to for everyone.

She managed to find her way to Darach's lab and found it mostly destroyed. Lily was there and she explained what had happened. Unfezant had escaped and destroyed the lab. Darach tried to stop her and to talk her into joining with him again. Unfezant flew away in disgust. A few hours later Darach had died. They found Unfezant in the forest. Her wings were locked tightly to her sides and she had fallen from a great height. It was impossible for a pokemon to hurt their partners, but she had found a way, just by closing her wings.

One of the few undamaged things in the lab was a large computer. Porygon was on it, although he had turned into a much more sinister form than the one she had seen before. She found a program for his final evolution, Porygon Zero, which had been shortened to Porygon Z on the file. Porygon didn't trust her at all at first, but eventually he started to remember Aamira after she talked with him for a while. Satisfied that Porygon could be put back to the way he was before, mentally anyway, she went looking for what she was really hoping to find.

In the back of the room was the red and white sphere. Beheeyem stared at her from the transparent red half of the sphere. She picked it up and with a little fumbling found out how to free him.

"Thank you, miss. It wasn't exactly cramped in there, but I didn't like it." Beheeyem said.

"You're the one who apparently altered my memory?" Lucario walked out of a hidden passage much like the one in the room where the mirror had been held. "Is what she said true?"

Beheeyem nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice. It was very strange, but I had no intention of doing any such thing to you."

"Can you put his old memories back?" Aamira asked.

Beheeyem tilted his head. "It's more complicated than that. I guess you could say that the new memories I created covered up the old ones. I can 'uncover' them, but the memories I created had to be strong to mask them entirely. I can bring your old memories back, but I can't get rid of the ones I created. It will be like living two separate lives in one lifetime. Would you want something like that?"

"Living two lives at once has to be better than living the one I am now. In the short time that I feel like I've really known Aamira, I realized I trust her more than Zoroark, so I trust her on this."

"It really is incredible. It's almost as if his feelings towards you were strong enough to uncover themselves!" Beheeyem flew up to Lucario and placed his hand on his forehead. "I'm going to put you to sleep for a while so it won't hurt; all of your memories returning at once wouldn't be a pleasant experience I'm sure. I don't want anything more to do with all of this. Don't come looking for me after I'm done."

The lights of Beheeyem's hand flashed in a series of patterns. Lucario's eyelids drooped and he fell asleep. Beheeyem caught him and laid him against the wall. He turned to Aamira, nodded, and teleported away, most likely never to be seen again.

Aamira wanted to stay until Lucario woke up, but she wasn't sure how long it would take or how he'd react when he woke up. She thought it would be best if he looked for her afterwards instead of just being there for two conflicting memories, one where they were friends and one where he hated her, to be tested the second he woke up.

There was something else she had to do anyway. She had been dreading it for a while now, but she had to find Quill and talk to him. Surprisingly he took what she had to say pretty well. He still looked heartbroken about it, but he understood completely.

Aamira left the castle when she finished talking with Quill and managed to sneak into the clock tower at the city's center. She had wanted to see it up close from the second she returned to this world, but never had the chance to. She found a way to actually climb to the top and stood there in front of the clock face, staring out at the city and the distant ocean, forest, and mountains. She stayed there until sunset. It really was as beautiful as she had heard.

"This is a pretty nice view." Lucario walked up behind her and stood leaning on the railing next to her.

"Yea, I guess it is. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Confused." He admitted. "I thought things would be more clear afterwards, but now I'm wondering which set of memories are actually the fake ones. I can't help seeing you as an ally either way, but you seem like the sort who would give someone fake memories just to make them happier."

So he still thought of her as a stranger. That was alright, they could become friends all over again. "I lost my memory too, remember? I understand exactly how you feel right now. I lost a life and you gained an extra one, so I guess it's not exactly the same. I wonder which one of us has it harder."

"How can I trust anything now though? Maybe all of this is just one larger set of fake memories and there's an entirely different life that I don't remember having."

"Maybe." Aamira searched for something to say to him. "What are we standing on?"

"A clock tower." Lucario replied, although he didn't see what she was getting at.

"How do you know?"

Lucario was about to answer, but he hesitated. He knew how he got here and he knew what a clock tower was, but who had it been that told him what it was? He remembered there had been one in Atra, although not as big as this one, but he also remembered seeing this same one with his mother when visiting Desolo as a child. Still, did that change the fact that it was a clock tower?

"No one ever told you what a clock tower was, at least not that you can remember for sure. You don't have to relearn everything now. You still know what trees and rocks are, even if you've lived two different lives."

"What does it matter that I know what's real if I don't know for sure who's real?"

"Well… what about me? And Quill too. Does it really matter if you hate one life more than the other? Besides, there's one person you know exist for sure; you do. You can be whoever you want from now on."

Aamira's words were surprisingly deep and comforting. They didn't seem entirely like hers. Then Lucario remembered that they weren't hers. "Didn't I say all of this to you once?"

"Did you? I don't remember." That made Lucario laugh, which she saw as a greater accomplishment than defeating Zoroark at this point. "Do you remember this part? I don't think we're so different. You don't have to worry about going through this alone; I promise I won't let you go through anything like this alone ever again."

"I'm sure that unlike me you could actually keep your promise."

Aamira sighed and looked down. "Actually, I'll just say it. I have to break that promise already. I already told Quill. Zoroark's still out there somewhere. He'll always be a threat, especially if I'm not here. Something that Staraptor said made me think that anyway. So… Actually, Quill left already. He had to go back for Daisy and the team. Mew opened the passage back to his world. Oh, you can imagine how mad Mew was when I told him I had fought Zoroark without him… her. I'm going to talk to Mew later about all of this, but I want to tell you first. I really want to go back with you and Quill, but I can't."

Lucario nodded. "I understand." He paused for a second. He had already broken his promise a long time ago, but he could at least keep her from breaking hers. "Actually this puts me in a difficult position too. You're going to become the queen officially soon, aren't you? If I'm going off of the assumption that the memories you gave me were the real ones, I'm Atra's ambassador, aren't I? It's my job to make sure relations between my kingdom and others go smoothly, isn't it? Well I don't want to be the one responsible for a war between us because I didn't stick around for a while to make sure things were okay."

Aamira turned to look at him. "You're… You're staying?"

Lucario smiled and nodded. "Of course.

Aamira had to smile too. It must have been the first time they had actually smiled in a long time. Every time before then had been out of bitter humor not even worthy of a laugh or something like that. This was different though. Neither of them would admit this to the other, but they were both thinking the same thing at this moment. "So this is the smile I fell in love with."


	31. Special Episode 1: Team Mettle

It really was the most beautiful day Daisy had ever seen. She was having a picnic with her mom, dad, and, of course, her brother Quill. It just wouldn't be a perfect day without him or one of his pies. Where were they anyway? It wasn't anywhere they had ever brought Daisy before. They were in the middle of a large grassy plane, sitting under the only tree for miles. It was sunny, but not too warm. There was a nice, cool breeze that few fire pokemon could appreciate.

"help…"

They finished eating and she dozed in the grass next to her brother. He hardly ever got the chance to get off of work. This really was the perfect day. He was saying something to her, but strangely enough she had trouble hearing it. Oh! He wanted to play hide and seek with her. That was her favorite game, but this was silly; the tree was the only place to hide!

"Help…!"

Quill showed her how to hide in the grass. He completely disappeared and she couldn't figure out how he did it. A second later he appeared behind her, nearly scaring her half to death. That cheater used Dig to hide underground! Their mom and dad called them over. It was time to cut the pies for desert! Finally!

"HELP!"

Everything went dark. The sun, the field, the tree, and even Daisy's family had all vanished. She was floating alone in complete darkness. Something didn't feel right though. It felt like someone was watching her.

"Who's there…?" Daisy backed away, although she had no idea where the other person was. It could have been she was walking right towards them.

"Oh thank goodness, someone finally heard me." A purple and cream colored pokemon appeared in front of Daisy. It looked badly hurt. One of its legs looked like it was broken and was stuck in a funny position. Even so, this pokemon was very pretty.

"Are you alright?" Daisy ran over to the injured pokemon, but she had no idea what to do.

"Yes, I'm fine. For now." The pretty pokemon tried to smile, but didn't seem to have the strength even for that. "Finally. I've been trying to reach out to all of the sleeping pokemon for someone who could hear me. Finally someone heard me. You look like you're just a kid though. Kids are normally affected by this sort of thing more easily, so I guess this makes sense. Listen, when you wake up I need you to get help. I'm in a place called Lush Valley. I found a key to a door in this valley that was said to have an amazing treasure inside it so I hired an Investigation Team to guide me there. They were fakes though and now Absol and Seviper are after me. I had the reward set as a portion of the treasure, but they want to steal the key and get it all for themselves."

"Are you hiding? Tell me where you are exactly and I'll come save you."

"I'm in a cave in the far end of the valley. They caused a cave in and my leg was trapped under some falling rocks. I don't know why they don't just take the key. Apparently they're waiting for their leader to show up. Don't come yourself though, it's too dangerous for a kid. Please, find me a good, dependable Investigator. I doubt there's much time left." The pokemon gasped and turned her head suddenly to her right. "They're coming back. I have to go."

"Hang on! Tell me your name at least!"

Daisy woke up, gasping for breath. Her dream had started out so nicely, but then had turned into a horrible nightmare. A pokemon had been asking her for help. What a weird dream it was. It was just a dream, wasn't it?

Daisy got up and stretched. What day was it again? Oh yea! Her brother would be coming back from that big mission today! Great, now she had to sit through school all day waiting. She climbed down to the bottom floor of their Treehouse where her mom already had breakfast ready. It was just a fruit salad made from some cut up berries and apples, but it was good enough to last until lunch.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?" Espeon asked. "You look really tired still."

"I'm fine." Daisy got up and stretched. "Just had a really weird dream. Oh you're not going to be there until the afternoon classes, are you?"

"No, I'm sorry. I know you don't like Golduck much, but just put up with it for a while. To tell you the truth… I don't really like her much either. A few years ago she let a team graduate that really shouldn't have." Espeon smiled and swished her tail through the air happily. "On the other hand, I guess Quill shouldn't have graduated either. His grades were the worst I have ever seen!"

Daisy smiled and grabbed her bag that was by the door. "I'm going then. I'll see you this afternoon!"

Golduck wasn't really an unkind teacher. She sometimes seemed to lack confidence though. If someone ever did something wrong and she was giving them a punishment, she would act as though she felt bad about doing it. Daisy liked to cause trouble in her class, if just to toughen her up a little. It felt weird actually wanting to be punished, but that was just the sort of teacher Golduck was. She couldn't imagine what kind of person would take advantage of a weak teacher like this so they could graduate. That was just mean spirited.

Today was one of those off days though. Every now and then Golduck would have a day where she tried to act more confident but it just came off as mean. She would snap at students for the smallest noise or whisper. Working in groups on a day like this? Forget it. Silent book work all day. Daisy learned not to cause trouble on days like this.

Still, she was tired from that restless night she had. Every time she tried reading from the book, she started nodding off. She was surprised Golduck didn't notice. That was probably because she had propped her book up both to help herself concentrate and so Golduck wouldn't notice her snoozing. You'd think a teacher, especially one in a bad mood, wouldn't let their students prop their books up to hide from view, but even in a bad mood Golduck was kind of weak.

Daisy couldn't concentrate at all. She would just make up the work later and instead content herself to mindless daydreaming while pretending to work. Strangely it did help her to stay awake. After what seemed like forever, lunch time finally came around. Everyone went outside to eat and play like they usually did. A few of the older kids were having a practice battle like they usually did. They were allowed to practice like this when they developed enough control over their attacks, but they still had to hold back so they wouldn't damage the school. Daisy wondered if that's how Quill set the school on fire when he went there. She knew he had never been allowed to practice battling, so maybe that was why. He had never told her how it had happened.

She sat next to her friend, Mudkip, on their usual tree root. They had a strange friendship. While she had threatened many times to not be his friend anymore, he never once did something like that. Mudkip was never one to start an argument, but Daisy always managed to cause one somehow. It was this strange competitive thing with her, but Mudkip really wanted no part of it. She even resorted to calling him Snuffles because he used to get colds all the time and people thought he was weak because of it. He didn't like it, but he never fought her over it either. No matter what Daisy did, they were always friends.

"So what was the matter with you today?" Mudkip asked while biting into an apple.

"It's rude to talk with your mouth full." Daisy said as she also took a bite of an apple. "If you must know, I was talking with someone."

"Looked like you were snoozing to me. Maybe I should start to call you Snoozer since you keep calling me Snuffles."

Daisy saw herself as the nicer of the two of them and was willing to overlook what he had called her. "I was sleeping, but that's how I talk to her. Just last night I had a dream about this really pretty pokemon that was injured and trapped in a dungeon somewhere. That pokemon was actually a princess who was guarding the key to a door that led to her kingdom. She was being chased by some bad guys who wanted to steal it from her and hold her for ransom. So she used her superpowers to look for someone to talk to in their sleep, but I was the only one brave enough to help her so only I had the dream. She's been giving me instructions all day on what to do."

Mudkip laughed. "Wow, that's a pretty cool story. Maybe you should try writing a book for extra credit. I don't know about Golduck, but Miss Espeon would probably give it to you."

Daisy snatched Mudkip's apple from his paw. "It's not a story, Snuffles! It really happened! You never listen to me…"

"Maybe because you always lie. I bet you couldn't even come up with a name for that fake dungeon the princess is trapped in."

"It's not fake and it does too have a name! It's called Lush Valley!"

"Lush Valley? Where did you hear about a place like that?" Espeon walked up to the two of them, sat in front of them, and wrapped her tail around herself.

"So it's real?" Mudkip added.

Espeon nodded. "In the past few years, dungeons have been appearing much less frequently. Lush Valley is one of those dungeons that appeared, only a few days ago in fact. No Investigation Teams have had a chance to explore it yet. Any dungeon might be dangerous and there's no way to know for sure until going into one, so Noctowl wants any Investigation Teams who would try to explore it to be fully prepared. Where did you hear about it?"

"Daisy had a dream about it!" Mudkip said.

"Oh so now you believe me?" Daisy asked.

Espeon pounded her tail a couple of times against the ground. "Now listen up you two, I don't want either of you sneaking off to look at that dungeon. You especially, Daisy. If you get too close, you could get stuck. How do you think Quill would feel if he found out his own sister had to send a help request to some other Investigation Team?"

They both looked down at the ground and nodded in agreement.

"Good." Espeon's tone softened a little as she got up and started walking to the door. "Hurry up and finish your lunches. Your next class will be starting soon."

Daisy loved Espeon's classes, but she was having a difficult time concentrating for once. Lush Valley was a real place? Then maybe it wasn't just a dream after all. There might actually be an injured pokemon in that dungeon somewhere who was being hunted by a couple of outlaws. Maybe she should tell an investigation team like the pokemon told her to do. But what about what Espeon said? "How do you think Quill would feel if he found out his own sister had to send a help request to some other Investigation Team?" Even if it wasn't to rescue Daisy, Quill probably wouldn't like her sending a request to another team.

Her head started to droop before long and seconds later she fell asleep again. She was floating in the same pitch black place as before. The pokemon who had contacted her before was there again, still in the same position, but looking a little more frantic.

"I finally got through to you again." The pokemon said. "Did you give someone my message? Is an Investigation Team coming soon?"

"Yea, of course." Daisy said. "I'll be there to help you in no time! I just had to get prepared first."

"What? No! I need an Investigation Team, not a kid! Please, you have to do this for me. Find an Investigation Team."

Daisy puffed out her chest a little. "I'm the leader of the famous Team Pyro. Don't worry, we'll save you for sure!"

"You're an Investigation Team member?" The pokemon tilted her head to the side. It didn't look like she believed it. She thought about it for a moment and nodded. "I get it, you must be a rookie. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose. You Investigators get younger each year. Alright, I'll trust you with this, but please hurry. I'll even give your team the reward I was originally going to give Absol and Seviper. You'll each get a share of the treasure."

"Where is Lush Valley?" Dais asked.

The pokemon kept glancing nervously over her shoulder as if expecting someone to show up. "Just past Stony Ridge."

"Don't worry, just leave it to me!"

"Thank you. Please hurry!"

Daisy woke up, laying on the floor of the classroom with Daisy standing over her and her classmates standing a little away from her. She couldn't remember having fallen asleep, just waking up to this odd scene.

"Are you alright?" Espeon put a paw to Daisy's head. "Oh you have a horrible fever!"

"No I'm fine. Really, I just fell asleep." Daisy stood up, but immediately felt sick and dizzy and had to hold onto her desk to keep from falling over again.

"You most certainly are not fine! Oh but this puts me in a difficult position. You can't go home on your own and I can't just leave. Typhlosion and Quill are both away on important jobs…"

"I can help her home." Mudkip said. "If that's okay. Maybe I can come over to your house so me and Daisy can both catch up on what we miss."

"Daisy and I." Espeon corrected. "Oh this isn't the time for me to be a teacher. Alright, you do that. I'm counting on you to get Daisy home safe, okay?"

Mudkip nodded and supported Daisy on their way out of the classroom. They couldn't figure out why Daisy had started to feel sick like that. The only thing they could think of was that it was because of the pokemon calling for help in Daisy's dream. Maybe somehow she was feeling what that pokemon was feeling. Was something like that even possible?

"So what are we gonna do?" Mudkip asked after Daisy managed to crawl into her bed.

"We have to save her. She asked me specifically. If we help her, we'll be heroes and she'll give us treasure and I'll probably start feeling better. Actually, I'm already starting to feel better, but it might not last if I have another dream."

"But we don't even know where the dungeon is." Mudkip said. "I might agree to go with you, but we don't know where to go. Maybe your mom got a letter from Noctowl since she knew where it was, but the message could have been given verbally."

"It's past Stony Ridge. That pokemon told me. I know where it is since Quill's first official mission was there."

Mudkip sighed. "Alright, let's go then."

Daisy could tell he didn't want to go. He wouldn't have let her go on her own when she was sick from the dreams and she needed his help anyway. The two of them snuck out of the city, both feeling a little apprehensive after finally putting their barely existent plan into motion.

They ran most of the way to the dungeon because they knew it would probably take them a lot of time to get through it. Daisy had left a note saying that she had gone to Chansey to see if she could get some medicine. That and the fact that school wouldn't be over for a few hours would give them plenty of time, but they couldn't afford to waste too much time just in case something went wrong.

Lush Valley had been accurately named. It was a huge sprawling maze that took up an entire valley between two low mountains. They had never seen so many plants before. Living in a forest, that was saying a lot. It was one of the most beautiful places they had ever seen.

Luckily the dungeon wasn't too bad. For a couple of kids like them it was still a challenge, but they were able to beat the enemies in it using just Tackle. That along with Growl and Leer, which was the extent of their combined attacks, was enough to defeat the pokemon there. Most of them were grass types, which Daisy would protect Mudkip from, but there was a good number of rock types too, which he protected her from. It was understandable why the Investigation Teams had been cautious, but it really wasn't that bad. Mudkip was even starting to have fun.

Daisy was starting to get worried though. She hadn't felt tired at all since she entered the dungeon. Did something happen to that pokemon? Daisy hoped not. She seemed so nice and it was just terrible that a couple of pokemon would chase her and hurt her just for some treasure.

Finally they reached the bottom levels of the dungeon. Hidden in the tall grass, vines, and various weeds was a narrow cave entrance. They took a deep breath and walked inside. The floor and walls by the entrance and a little further in were covered with moss and had a few plants that forced their way up through the stone. Further in though, there were no plants at all. The cave seemed to go on forever in a straight path. Finally it started to narrow and they found a few rocks that had fallen from the ceiling. The rockslide caused by Absol and Seviper was just ahead.

They entered the chamber that was half collapsed. At the farthest end they found the pokemon from Daisy's dream. The lower half of her body was trapped under the rocks and she looked badly hurt.

Daisy ran over to the pokemon and shook her shoulder to try to get her to wake up. "Hey, are you alright? We're here to save you!"

"Wow, you really did dream about a hurt pokemon." Mudkip said. "Is she really a princess like you said?"

"I don't know, but she looks like one, doesn't she?" Daisy turned her attention to the rocks and tried to push them off of her. "These are heavy. Help me out, would you?"

Mudkip ran over to help move the rocks. He was serious now that he saw that there really was a pokemon that needed their help. The two of them pushed the rocks, but even together they wouldn't budge.

The pokemon started to stir and she lifted herself up onto her front legs, even though her back ones were still trapped. "It's you… isn't it? You came to save me."

Daisy was still straining to push the rocks off of her. "Yea, don't worry. We'll get you out of here in a second."

The pokemon smiled. "Yes, thank you so much. I was starting to worry… you wouldn't come for me… Ow, ow stop! Give me a second, okay? You pushing those rocks around hurts."

"Right sorry!" Daisy backed up and Mudkip followed her. They didn't think the rocks were budging at all, but they must have been if it had hurt her. At least that meant they would be able to save her if they kept at it. "We have to keep trying soon. Absol and Seviper's leader will be here eventually right? We need to get you free before that happens."

The pokemon looked at them sadly. "Yes, but there's a problem with that. Their leader is already here."

A loud hiss came from behind them. A large snake pokemon struck at Daisy and wrapped around her. Both of them screamed and Mudkip started tackling the pokemon repeatedly to get it to let go, but the pokemon just laughed.

"Aww how cute. You actually think you could beat ssomeone like me with ssuch a weak attack. You sshould have sstayed home, kid."

"Yea, you missed one, didn't you?" Another pokemon, this one almost completely white with a blade on the side of its head, followed the snake into the cave. "That's unfortunate. Well we really only needed that one, didn't we, my lady?"

The pokemon with the blade on its head, who they guessed was Absol, walked over towards the pokemon in the back of the cave. Mudkip jumped in front of him.

"You won't hurt her! I won't let you!"

His expression stayed entirely serious the entire time and didn't change even when knocking Mudkip off to the side. "Stay out of my way, kid." Absol walked up to the rock slide and with a single movement of his blade, destroyed the biggest of the rocks.

The pokemon who was trapped underneath stood up with a little difficulty and pulled herself out of the remaining rocks and stretched out her back legs. "You couldn't have been a little more gentle with those rocks could you?"

"You wanted it to look real, didn't you?" Absol asked. "Then again, we thought a real Investigator was going to be the one coming here. These two probably would have believed something a little less realistic."

"Well no matter." She walked up to Daisy, who was shaking so badly that Seviper had to hold onto her tighter to keep her from slipping from his grip. "Too bad, isn't it? Looks like you'll have to get your big brother to come rescue you."

"Y-You're their leader, aren't you?" Daisy asked. "Why did you trick me?"

"I was really trying to get into Quill's dreams by using Dream Eater. I had tried once before, but I always got the worst feeling when I tried, like some sort of dark entity was guarding his dreams. Last night I didn't feel even that much, so I assumed he must have gone on a mission and hadn't returned. So I thought maybe I would tell his dear little sister. He might not believe her at first, but eventually he would and he would come to rescue the poor injure pokemon.

"Unfortunately you decided to try the fake mission yourself. At first I thought it really was a disaster and that you would ruin my plans, but then I started to think that maybe it would be better this way. Quill is a strong opponent and even if we sprung a trap like this on him, there was still a chance he would beat us. He wouldn't dare endanger his darling little sister though, would he?" She smiled and patted Daisy on the head. "I'll admit, you did pretty good getting this far, but you really should give up any aspiration you might have of becoming an Investigator. You simply lack the mettle required. Your team wouldn't last very long with someone like you leading the way."

Daisy started to cry and Mudkip struggled to his feet. "You leave her alone! Daisy's going to be the leader of the greatest Investigation Team to ever exist!"

Absol walked towards him and Mudkip flinched back. He wished he hadn't said anything, but it felt good standing up for his friend.

"Listen to me kid." Absol said. "Your friend is in a bad situation and right now you're the only one who can save her. Go home and look for Quill and tell him to come here alone if he ever wants to see his sister again. Tell him that if he doesn't show up by dawn, he'll be able to find his sister fighting for some Bounty Hunters. Who could deny that the sister of a famous Investigator would fetch a good price from them? Think you can do that?"

Mudkip backed away and tried to step around Absol and move towards the exit. "I… I got it."

Absol nodded. "Good. Do you even know what Bounty Hunters are? I doubt any teacher is dumb enough to teach their students about something so terrifying. Let me put it this way so you can understand; you better hurry or something bad will happen."

Mudkip turned and ran out of the cave as fast as he could.

Their leader laughed and swished her tail back and fourth. "There you go with all of your doom and gloom again. Whatever works; I think the kid got the message."

Daisy sobbed and kept her eyes shut tightly. She had never been so scared before. No matter what the reason, how could Mudkip just leave her here alone with these outlaws?

"Oh don't cry, kid." Their leader said to Daisy. "I hate tears. You don't want to disappoint big brother Quill, do you? More than you already have, I mean?"

Daisy's tears intensified. She knew that she shouldn't let an outlaw get to her like this, but this wasn't how she expected them to be. She always thought that something like this might happen. Then they'd figure out who her big brother was and they would be scared of her. She would act brave and tough and knock them all out with some awesome fiery attacks before Quill even showed up. Quill would be so proud of her and he would make Alakazam and Noctowl give Daisy an Investigation Team right away. She would be in all of the newspapers and people everywhere would talk about her. Now there was a chance that would never happen.

Espeon looked at the dinner on the table, which was starting to get cold. She was really starting to worry about Daisy. Maybe she had something more serious than she thought and Chansey had to keep her at the hospital. She decided that she would go check on Daisy if she didn't show up in the next few minutes.

There was a knock at the door and Espeon jumped up to answer it, nearly hitting Quill in the nose with the door as she did.

"Uh, wow! Excited to see me?" Quill asked.

Espeon sighed. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were Daisy. She got sick during class earlier and Mudkip volunteered to take her home. When I got home I found a note saying she went to get some medicine from Chansey. Vine City is pretty safe and she was with Mudkip so I thought it would be okay, but she still hasn't come home yet."

"Daisy's gone too?" Marshtomp, Espeon's next door neighbor and Mudkip's mother walked up to them. "I'm sorry, I overheard. I haven't seen Mudkip all day either. No note or anything. He could still be with Daisy, but it's not like him not to let someone know where he is. He's a little skittish but very careful about things like that."

"This is starting to worry me…" Quill admitted. "Maybe I should go look for them."

"Mom! Quill! Miss Espeon!" Just as they had been talking about him, Mudkip ran up to the three of them.

"Mudkip!" Marshtomp ran to her son and gave him a comforting hug. "Are you alright? You're shaking really badly. Are you hurt?"

"Quill, Daisy's in trouble! We went to Lush Valley to rescue a pokemon Daisy was dreaming about, but when we got there it turned out she was an outlaw and one of her lackeys grabbed Daisy. They told me to tell you to go there alone by dawn or something bad would happen to Daisy. They said something about Bounty Hunters, but I don't really know what those are."

"Bounty Hunters!?" Quill shouted. "What did they look like?"

"Two of them were an Absol and Seviper. I never heard their leader's name, but she was a really pretty pokemon with purple and cream fur."

"I bet it's her…" Quill said more to himself than anyone else. "Alright I'm going. Don't send anyone after me if I take too long or Daisy might get into even more trouble."

Daisy was exhausted and aching all over from being held in the same position by Seviper for so long. The outlaws had grown bored of teasing her and took turns sleeping while waiting for Quill. She wanted to sleep too, but she was too scared of their leader's Dream Eater. She was sure that was what made her feel sick before.

"Oh look who finally showed up." Their leader stood up and Absol did the same. "Hello, Quill. I'm glad to see you're doing well."

Quill walked into the cave followed by Mudkip. "I thought it was you, Delcatty. Didn't you learn your lesson when I arrested you a few months ago? I hope you don't mind, but Mudkip was worried and wanted to tag along. You'd have to agree he isn't much of a threat."

Delcatty nodded. "Fair enough. Now then, what would you be willing to do in order to get your sweet little sister back?"

"Does that matter? Just tell me what you want." Quill said.

Delcatty looked over towards Mudkip. "Say for instance I wanted to swap your sister with that Mudkip there. Would you force him to stay behind to get your sister to safety?"

Mudkip looked up at Quill, terrified by the idea of being held prisoner by outlaws. There was no way he could do something like that. He knew he shouldn't have brought Mudkip along, but he had been so adamant in going alone to help save Daisy.

"Don't worry, we don't want him." Delcatty said. "I just wanted to test your limitations. You're going to be working for us for a long time, got it? If you don't, you know what will happen to your sister, don't you? At least with us she's safe, not being force to fight against other pokemon. So you'll do everything we ask you to and if you do anything we don't like, we'll hand your sister over to the highest paying Bounty Hunter."

Quill looked over at Daisy, who looked more terrified than he had ever seen her. Small sparks were coming out of the spots on her back, but they weren't big enough to hurt Seviper. Quill looked back to Delcatty and smirked.

"What, don't care for your sister's safety?" Delcatty asked.

"No that's not it. I'm just surprised that you'd underestimate me or anyone from my family."

Quill's fire flared up, so hot that it glowed blue. Almost instantly, Daisy's fire did the same. Seviper shouted and instantly released her. Quill let his fire die down to a cooler red color and Daisy's went out completely. She ran over to Quill, crying, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I thought I was never going to be rescued!" Daisy sobbed.

"Well it looks like these outlaws aren't the only ones who are underestimating me. You two stand back. This won't take long."

Daisy stood back with Mudkip and watched as her brother attacked the outlaws. He attacked Seviper with Flame Wheel and knocked him out instantly. Absol attacked him with Slash, but before he could land his attack, Quill turned and attacked with Flamethrower, knocking him back into the wall. He dug under the ground and came up under Delcatty. He finished her off with Flamethrower and knocked Absol out with another Flame Wheel. The entire battled had hardly lasted a couple of minutes and the outlaws hadn't been able to land a single hit.

Quill walked back over to check on Daisy. "Are you okay?"

"I think so… How did you make my fire turn blue like that?" Daisy asked.

"I can control other pokemon's fire a little. I didn't like having to control yours, but I couldn't see any other way to get you out. Would you two mind not telling anyone about that? It might scare some people."

They both nodded, but Daisy looked less enthusiastic. She still looked scared and it looked like she had been crying. Quill wondered if they had hurt her, but she looked more or less unharmed.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you like that…" Daisy said. "I know how you must feel about having to save me. I just really wanted to help Delcatty because I thought she was hurt."

"Disappointed?" Quill asked. "Why would I be disappointed? You came here to help out an injured pokemon, didn't you? I'm so glad I have a great sister. Don't do anything like this again though, at least not until you become a proper Investigator. You need more experience before doing something like this." He looked up at the fissure in the ceiling where the rocks had collapsed. "There's a perfectly straight cut in the rocks. Something like that isn't natural. Maybe they told you that Absol did it on purpose? But if he wanted to keep Delcatty trapped here, he would have just blocked the exit that way she wouldn't be able to crawl out from under them eventually and no one would stumble across her by accident."

"Wow, you figured all of that out just from looking at the ceiling?" Mudkip asked. "That's so cool! So if you had been the one to rescue Delcatty, you would have been able to see through their trick instantly. They were even bragging about how they needed to make it look convincing to fool and Investigator!"

Mudkip looked excited and cheerful again, but Daisy wasn't looking any better.

"Delcatty said I wouldn't make a good Investigator." Daisy said. "She said I didn't have mettle. What did she mean by that?"

Quill didn't want to tell her, but he knew if he didn't Daisy would most likely run off to find a dictionary the second they got home and wouldn't give Espeon enough time for a single word to comfort or scold her. "She meant that you weren't brave." Seeing a downward change in Daisy's mood he quickly added onto his explanation. "But what does an outlaw know, huh? If I was your age when this happened, I bet I'd be the first person ever to die of fright. You're so much braver than I was when I was your age. I can imagine you'll pass me as an Investigator by miles in a few years."

Daisy nodded and tried to cheer up, but she really was still terrified after what had happened.

"Why did Delcatty say she was here anyway?" Quill asked.

"She said she was looking for a treasure." Daisy said. "She said there was a treasure in this cave that she had the key for and that she hired Absol and Seviper to escort her there."

Quill walked over to where Delcatty was laying and dug around in the rubble for a while before picking up an oddly shaped stone and brought it back over. Elaborate patterns had been carved into it and on one end there were strange grooves sticking out of it. "I'm betting this is what she was talking about. She probably couldn't find the treasure so she wanted me to do it for her. Some people never change I guess. So where do you think we should look for the treasure?"

Daisy looked around the cave. It did seem strange that the dungeon led to this cave and that it was just a straight path up to this point. It would make sense if something was hidden here. She looked around the room, which was almost completely demolished. Cracks ran all over the ceiling and walls from where Absol had caused the rock slide. The only part that wasn't damaged was a stalagmite that was up against the side of the cave wall. It did look kind of out of place, since the cave outside of this room was filled with them, but this one was the only one here.

Daisy walked over to the rock and pulled on it. It was surprisingly light and slid open like a door on a hinge. She looked behind it. There was another tunnel that led even deeper into the dungeon.

"Good job!" Quill said. "I knew you would be able to figure that out. You two have left me with a bit of a problem though. I'm almost certain to run into some enemies on the way back to town and I can't protect you two and take these three with me at the same time. I can't just leave these dangerous outlaws here either. It looks pretty safe around this area though, so could you wait here for me to come back? You could probably look around for something cool to take home as a souvenir while you wait."

"Really!?" Daisy said. "You'll let us keep investigating this dungeon?"

Quill nodded. "Sure, if you're up to it. You two came this far on your own and you have that key now, so it would be a huge waste if you didn't finish."

"But no one else has been here yet. We're the first ones. Don't you think it would be better if an official team got to do this?" Mudkip asked.

"Well, yea." Quill admitted. "But you're already here so why not? You'll just have to promise me that you'll both become official Investigators some day."

Both of them nodded. "We promise."

"Good. Now get going before I change my mind."

Daisy and Mudkip both ran into the next part of the dungeon. They were actually on an official Investigation! Daisy was so excited that she nearly forgot all about Delcatty and her group. Quill always knew just was to say to make her feel better.

The enemies got a little tougher and the ratio of grass to rock types switched. It made sense considering they were in the cave now, but it meant that Mudkip had to do the majority of the fighting. If they had both been in an official team, their levels would have increased together, but since they weren't, they only gained the experience for the enemies they defeated on their own. By the time they were nearly through, Mudkip had learned how to use Mud Slap and Water Gun, while Daisy had only learned Smokescreen, which was still useful to keep pokemon from being able to hit them, but wasn't the sort of move she'd like to use.

"Well maybe we'll be allowed to practice battles at the school now like the older kids." Mudkip said.

"I hope so." Daisy used Smokescreen on an approaching Geodude. Mudkip used Mud Slap on it and Daisy finished it off with Tackle. "For now I just hope this treasure is worth all of the trouble, you know? I mean, this is a lot of fun, but I want Team Pyro's first Investigation to be a big success."

"Eww, Team Pyro?" Mudkip said. "I don't like it. Change it."

"What? No! Team Pyro is the best name!"

"Hmm, well I'll probably just end up making my own team anyway, so do what you want I guess. It's none of my business. I just thought something a little cooler sounding that appealed to more than just fire types."

They both stopped in front of a large door that ran from the ground up to the ceiling. There was an indentation around it with a design matching the one on their weird key. This had to be it. Mudkip lifted Daisy on his shoulders so she could reach the lock. She placed the key inside of it and turned it clockwise until she heard a click and everything started shaking. She jumped down from Mudkip's shoulders and the two of them backed away.

They watched the door start to swing open, being stopped momentarily by the key that was still in the lock. The door pulled at the key and the key snapped cleanly in half and the door continued to slide open.

On the other side of the door was another cave with light pouring down from above, most likely from some small opening. Plants were growing in the entire small chamber. In the center elevated on a small hill was a wooden treasure chest wrapped in vines.

They both beamed at it excitedly and ran to it. Daisy pulled out circular fastener at the front of the chest that held it closed. There wouldn't be any point for another key with how sturdy the door had been. They pulled some of the vines out of the way and the chest swung open. They both jumped up onto the rim and looked in excited.

"Empty!?" Daisy shouted. "How can it be empty?"

"Maybe someone beat us to it." Mudkip said. "Someone not in an official team. Or maybe this chest just appeared with the dungeon and because the dungeon's so new no one put anything in it yet."

Daisy dropped back onto the ground. "Yea, maybe…" She looked down at the marble-like fastener in her hand. "Or maybe there was a treasure after all. Look, this fastener is so shiny. It almost looks like a sapphire, doesn't it? Well, this is going to be my treasure from now on!"

Mudkip smiled. "Yea, that's great! It might not be worth anything, but it sure is pretty looking. I guess this means our mission was a big success then. Do you want to say it?"

Daisy held up her new treasure into the air, watching it sparkle in the light shining down from miles above them. "Mission Complete!"

Both Daisy and Mudkip had fun telling their families all about the treasure. Marshtomp and Espeon weren't too happy with Quill letting them continue the Investigation on their own, but they understood why he did it. Unfortunately, there would be no interviews for newspapers as Daisy had hoped. Quill made them both promise not to tell anyone about their Investigation. He didn't want other kids trying to copy them and just because they were trying to help someone, it was still irresponsible to go running off on their own the way they had. They needed some kind of punishment.

Daisy was just happy with her treasure though. She placed it on the table next to her bed and stared at it all night before falling into a peaceful sleep where no pokemon intruded upon her dreams.

Although they both agreed to keep their first Investigation a secret, their actions didn't go entirely unnoticed. Back at the Lush Valley cave, a small pokemon snuck into the chamber where the treasure chest was still standing. It was dark now, but light from the moon still reached this chamber. He jumped up onto the ledge and reached down into the chest, pulling at the boards on the bottom and lifting them up, revealing a huge stash of the purest and most priceless gems.

"Eheheh! They're still here! I was worried over nothing. If they had been a real Investigation Team, that might have meant trouble. Those kids wouldn't be able to find something hidden as well as this though."

The small pokemon, whose gem-like eyes were gleaming in the moonlight, picked up a sapphire from the top of his precious hoard. It looked very similar to the fastener that Daisy had taken, except it was bigger and a real sapphire of the purest quality, the kind that only a Sableye could hope to find. Something of this value was a priceless treasure, but Sableye didn't care about the monetary value of his hoard.

"I should probably move my stash now that the door's key and the chest's fastener are gone, but first…" Sableye lifted the priceless sapphire to his mouth and took a huge bite out of it. "Aah, my scrumptious gems! Your exquisite flavors are my only comfort in this world!"


	32. Special Episode 2: Sand, Sea, and Sky

Roy stared up at the newest edition to the Hall of Fame; a portrait of Quill and Aamira from Team Sleuth. His own team was looking like likely candidates for the Hall of Fame, but it would be weird putting a portrait of a team resembling the first Investigation Team in the same room as a statue of the first team. Of course he was a Riolu, so they wouldn't look exactly the same. The first team's leader hadn't even been included in the statue. He doubted Team Sandstone would ever be anywhere near as good as Team Sleuth either way.

He stared at the picture of Aamira. He was a little worried about her. The last time he saw Aamira was when he was getting ready to go fight Arceus and Ninetales. He knew that she was a human now and in her own world. How far into the future had the Aamira he met come from? Was she even now preparing to go back in time? Or maybe it had already happened. There was really nothing he could do but wait to find out.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Roy didn't even turn around. He had been to the museum twice this week and was already used to Shedinja sneaking up on people or appearing out of nowhere. "I'm looking at the picture of my friends."

"You've done that two days in a row now. If I knew any better, I'd think you were planning on stealing it."

"Now, Now, Shedinja." Dragonite walked up behind the two of them. "I'd hardly think it would be worth much, given the amount of paintings Smeargle does. If anything were to happen to it, it could be easily replaced at little expense."

"You're not the master appraiser, are you Dragonite?" Shedinja said. "Say there was a copy made. That would make the original more valuable, depending on who buys it. No two paintings are exactly alike, even if they were made to look as close to similar as possible. Any theft or damage at all would cause a decrease in value of the artifact in question."

"That's not the point of our fair museum though, is it?" Dragonite asked in his usual cheerful tone even though Shedinja was starting to become hysterical. "If breaking a few items would decrease their value, that would be perfectly fine by me. If that would decrease their value, it would make theft less likely, wouldn't you agree? The value a museum should hold is not necessarily a monetary value, but a historic and culturally stimulating one. Fortunately, thieves rarely steal things for knowledge. Perhaps that is why they are so easily captured."

Roy laughed. "I see why they like you so much. Well I was just leaving anyway. Noctowl called my team here for an important mission, so we shouldn't be late."

Roy headed for the exit and heard Shedinja whispering behind him. He might have tried to stay quiet or maybe he just didn't care, because Roy could hear every word he said. "Not that I'd care if that painting of the vandals in Team Sleuth was stolen… Not under my watch though! Oh, no! Not under my watch should anything vanish from this museum!"

Roy ran to Town Hall, being careful not to be seen by Espeon. One of his team members, Shadow, asked that he not tell her that he was there. Shadow raised Espeon and the rest of her siblings by pretending to be their older brother. They thought he had died a long time ago and shadow thought it was for the best that it stay that way.

Outside of Town hall, Shadow was napping in the shade of the tree's leaves while Sandslash just sat their waiting.

"Hey what took you so long?" Sandslash asked.

"Just had something I had to do first." Roy said.

Shadow got up and stretched. "Well, let's get going. We're late enough as it is."

They walked inside where Noctowl, Arcanine, and the members of Team Sky were waiting.

"You're finally here." Noctowl walked to the table that stood between them and pointed to a mark on the map that was placed just south of Sylva's border. "A few days ago Arcanine received a tip about a band of Bounty Hunters living in this area. She had planned to lead her squad to take them in, but while setting up they discovered that they were planning to hold a tournament there. It is what they commonly refer to as a 'competition style' tournament. This is different from what they refer to as 'friendly'. Friendly tournaments are usually held between only two Bounty Hunter teams, maybe three at the most. Competition tournaments are held between all of them."

"All of them!?" Roy asked. "How could you even know something like that?"

"It's more of a theory that's existed for a long time now. Who determines a pokemon's bounty? Where does the circulating money come from? Many believe that each team of Bounty Hunters is held together as a single large organization. Every now and then each team in the organization comes together for a tournament and to exchange information. They don't do it all at once though. The lower ranking teams arrive first, have their battles, and the losers leave to make room for the higher ranking teams. Because of this they're never all in the same location at the same time in order to keep from drawing attention."

"But if all of the Bounty Hunter teams are like one huge organization…" Ambipom said.

"Then who's the leader?" Roy finished.

Arcanine nodded and stepped forward. "That's what we'd like to find out. We have a rare opportunity to capture many Bounty Hunters, both high and low ranking. You'll leave that up to my team though. As the teams are eliminated, we will pursue and capture them and distribute the criminals among the nearby prisons to prevent them from planning escapes and to keep the prisons from overflowing. Your jobs are to infiltrate and fight for the Bounty Hunters. Make sure you win and the teams you knock out will leave so we can capture them. When you make it to the end of the tournament that will most likely be when their boss will appear. Capture the boss if you can, but this mission will be dangerous and you'll most likely be injured and tired by the time he appears. Your main objective is just to discover his or her identity."

"I would have thought that it would be Honchkrow." Primeape said. "He is the 'big boss' pokemon after all."

Arcanine nodded. "Among his group, Black Wing, yes. According to Glameow, he went by the codename 'Father', primarily because he had developed a habit of rescuing young pokemon and turning them into Bounty Hunters for his team. We believe that each leader has a name like this. Father, Omega, Tusks, Copycat, and Crescent are the ones we know about. Crescent, Teddiursa, was captured during the incident with Team Sleuth and Honchkrow left his team. Copycat, according to Machop, is Ditto, the leader of Opal. He unfortunately escaped some time ago and the identities of Tusks and Omega are still unknown. We also don't know how many teams there are, just that there are many. We do know the nickname of their rumored leader however. They go by Relicanth. We assume it's a fake name in order to throw us off and even make us send the pokemon of the wrong type to battle them."

"Let me see if I understand this." Shadow said. "So you want us to be captured by Bounty Hunters on purpose to fight in their tournament. We need to win all of the battles to stay long enough to indentify their boss. All of the teams we disqualify will be captured by Arcanine's group when they leave. This still sounds too dangerous. I've never dealt with them myself, but I heard what happened to Team Sleuth. What if they threaten one of our members? And wouldn't it look suspicious if all five of us just suddenly show up and get captured easily? Ambipom and Primeape originally come from this area, but they're no longer affiliated solely with Sylva and we never have been. They're sure to suspect something."

"Yes I suspected the same." Noctowl turned towards the stairway. "You two, come down here."

Ambipom rolled each of her hands into fists and Primeape struggled to keep her temper under control. Crawdaunt and Croconaw from Team Rapids came down from the upper floor of the building.

"What, aren't you happy to see us?" Crawdaunt asked. "We used to go to the same school and everything. I thought we were buddies."

"I'm not working with them!" Primeape shouted.

"I understand that you don't trust them, but that's what I'm relying on." Noctowl said. "Team Rapids has a questionable reputation and so the Bounty Hunters are seeking them out to recruit, not capture, the two of them. Team Sky has a lower rank than Team Sandstone, so we've come up a plan based on that. Team Rapids will 'capture' Team Sky to bring to the Bounty Hunters. Afterwards, a mission will be put out to rescue them, which Team Sandstone will take. Team Rapids, suspecting immediate action since they're experienced with how Sylva operates, will set a trap and managed to escape after capturing Sandslash in the process. This will give you two, Roy and Shadow, a greater incentive to chase after them. Once Team Rapids meets up with the Bounty Hunters, they'll tip them off to your last known location. Due to 'injuries' you won't have made it too much farther past that point and you'll be overwhelmed by strength and superior numbers and get captured yourselves."

"I… I can't agree to this…" Roy said. "If we do it like this, Sandslash and I will most likely end up fighting on different teams. We won't even be able to communicate. I won't be forced to fight my brother."

"Do I get any say in this?" Sandslash asked. "I think this is a good mission. Even if we end up having to fight, well that would just make it more believable, wouldn't it? It make sense too. Since I'm at a type disadvantage, I'd be the most obvious one to grab in the confusion when the trap goes off."

Roy hesitated, but nodded. "If you're sure, then let's do this." He turned and pointed at Team Rapids. "That doesn't mean I trust the two of you. I'll understand if you have to rough them up a little bit just to make it look real, but if I find out you hurt Team Sky or Sandslash more than necessary, don't think I won't come after you."

"Relax, we won't jeopardize this." Croconaw said. "Our record's gotten a little dodgy, which makes us perfect for this. It will also be wiped clean when this is all over. We're turning a new leaf."

"And besides." Crawdaunt raised one of her claws so they could see the lighter chitin forming a cracked pattern. "If Team Sleuth had trouble with them, I'm going to one up them this time around. I'll capture all of them myself if I have to."

"Alright, we'll go along with it too then." Ambipom said. "Let's hurry and get our stories straight so they don't see through our rouse."

They spent the next few hours going over the map, planning a course that both groups would take and various places where traps would be set. Team Rapids decided they would place unmarked traps along the path as well so they wouldn't spot them as easily. They found a place right on the border where they would fight and Sandshrew would be captured and another place between two hills where Roy and Shadow would stop to rest before continuing the chase.

They started their plan, starting with a fake bounty being placed on Team Rapids. Team Sandstone went about their business on a fake mission that Noctowl had set up for them to do to give them an excuse for being in Vine City. While on the mission, Team Sky was captured by Team Rapids. By the time they got back, a crowd had formed around the Help Center. The bounty had more than tripled and they had been raised to double star rank outlaws. No one there was experienced enough to handle outlaws that strong, except for maybe Team Overgrow, who were conveniently on a mission in Divum at the time.

In front of the entire town, Noctowl requested the help of Team Sandstone, which they readily accepted as any Investigation Team would do. They headed out on their real mission to chase Team Rapids, being caught in and avoiding many traps along the way. Finally they were cornered. They were surprisingly good actors and actually looked worried that they would get caught. Then Roy stepped on an Explosion Trap, which gave all three of them some surprisingly serious injuries and kicked up a bunch of dust.

Roy heard Sandslash scream. "Sandslash!"

He tried to follow with his aura, but Croconaw immediately attacked Shadow. Shadow needed Roy's help and they couldn't be separated. Roy ran to help Shadow instead, but the second Crawdaunt was a good distance away, she used a Rollcall Orb to bring Croconaw back. The two of them attempted to run after them, but they were too badly hurt to follow after.

"I've got to save him…" Roy tried to follow after them, but collapsed after just a few steps.

Shadow limped forward and just barely managed to catch him. "Take it easy, you're just as badly hurt as I am. Come on, let's go find a place to rest."

Roy knew it was too risky to say anything in case they were being watched, but he didn't think it was necessary anyway. He was sure Shadow was probably thinking the same thing. That trap was more powerful than was really necessary. Roy considered suggesting finding a place to rest somewhere else, but they had to trust Team Rapids. It was the only way they would find Sandshrew.

They made it to the place in between the hills. It was surprisingly well guarded and had two potential retreats in case of a sudden attack. It was a good place to rest. It was getting dark so the two of them set up camp. They were both exhausted and they wouldn't be able to get much farther in the dark. Umbreon might be nocturnal and Riolu could still sense where they were going with their aura, but it would be too difficult to navigate the forest.

They both fell asleep curled up near each other. They tried to make shifts to keep watch, but they were both in pain and exhausted. Both of them were asleep and neither of them noticed the pokemon that snuck into their camp. Roy didn't manage to wake up until one of the pokemon had grabbed him. They held Roy down, keeping his mouth covered and forcing a blindfold onto him. From the sound of the struggling, Shadow had been attacked the same way.

Roy tried to fight off his attacker, but he was still hurt from the explosion earlier and every movement hurt. His attacker tied his arms tightly behind his back and pulled him to his feet.

"I guess those two were reliable after all." The pokemon whispered into his ear. "What a nice catch, wouldn't you say? I wouldn't speak if I were you. Too much noise can hurt a pokemon's ears, especially a rodent's. I'd keep those sensors down too if I were you."

Roy resisted the temptation to say something. It was obviously a threat being made to Sandslash. Would they end up being on the same team after all? Then again Honchkrow had threatened Quill when he had no idea where he was. It could be an act, but he wouldn't risk it.

The two pokemon who had caught them made them walk through the night. Roy was really disoriented from the blindfold. He couldn't risk the pokemon that caught him noticing him trying to sense his surroundings, so he just allowed himself to be led. He couldn't help feeling just a little bit scared though the longer it took for them to get there.

Finally, long after the sun rose, they heard the voices of other pokemon in the distance. The two pokemon that caught them made them stop. Roy flinched when he felt something brushing against one of his injuries.

The pokemon laughed. "Wow, they were actually telling the truth after all! Sure did a number on them, didn't they? Very impressive. An excellent catch for Voyagers."

"It's too bad." A voice they recognized as Crawdaunt's said. "Bedrock snatched up the other ones we brought in right away, didn't they? They snatched the Sandslash too so we couldn't even get you the full set."

'Full set? They really do treat us like some kind of trading cards.' Roy thought. 'I hope Sandslash's okay…'

"Still had something you wanted to tell them, didn't you?" the other voice asked. "Normally I'd never stand in the same room as a Bedrock, but I have to say I'm interested to hear what you have to say."

There was a short pause before Crawdaunt continued. Roy was assuming she was bowing or something. "After you, Captain."

The pokemon that caught them pushed them up some sort of wooden incline. Could they actually have a building all the way out here that no one had noticed before? The lighting changed and Roy couldn't feel the sunlight on him anymore. He assumed they must have taken them inside.

Roy heard a lock click behind them. The pokemon leading him pushed him to the ground and pulled off the blindfold. Even the dim light of this room hurt his eyes at first since he never had the chance to let them adjust from the previous night. He looked to his right. Shadow's blindfold had been pulled off the same way. Since he walked on all fours, he had a rope tied around his neck, which is probably how he was being led.

Across from them was the members of Team Sky and Sandslash, who looked like he was hurt pretty badly from that explosion. They were being guarded by a couple of Omanyte and an Omastar was keeping watch from nearby. They looked terrified in a way that was beyond acting. Something definitely wasn't right here.

"Well go on and tell them; I can't stand being on this stinking thing." Omastar said to Crawdaunt.

Crawdaunt smirked and looked between both of the groups. "First of all, I'd like my gracious hosts to know that these two teams were involved in a plan to capture all of the Bounty Hunters involved in the upcoming tournament. Luckily, their informants about the location of the tournament, being the two of us, were somewhat… inaccurate in their description of the location. In fact, they'll be searching the entirely wrong part of the forest."

"What!? Crawdaunt, you planned something like this from the start?" Roy shouted.

The Chatot who had been the one who had caught him attacked Roy with Arial Ace. Roy shouted as he was knocked back against the wall. "You will only speak when spoken too. You will learn the rules by heart soon enough."

"Now to my dear friends, I'd just like to inform you that your bounties have tripled over the last couple of years. With Team Sleuth gone, the two of you have really picked up the slack for them, haven't you? Well you should know that that bounty now belongs to Team Rapids. We would have been paid more if we had been able to get both sets of teams captured together and turned in as complete sets, but I suppose Team Sky and an extra from Team Sandstone isn't too bad either. So if you haven't figured it out by now, which considering how easily you fell for this plan it's actually possible you haven't, you have been tricked and betrayed and there will be no one coming for your rescue. That's all I wanted to say."

Walrein, who they assumed was the leader of Voyagers, chuckled. "Just had to get in the last laugh, didn't you? You know this makes you both officially bounty hunters now, doesn't it? You're welcome among the Voyagers if you don't want to go solo right away."

"We've talked it through already and we're going to hold off on forming a group until after the tournament." Croconaw said. "Actually the main reason we went along with this little rouse was to see if the rumors were true. Is there actually a boss running all of the Bounty Hunters?"

Walrein nodded. "Of course there is. Can't think a large thing like this can exist without some guidance, do you? The boss doesn't usually run things directly. Better money that way. Relicanth catches all of the best pokemon for these sorts of tournaments and usually bids them off to the teams if fights ever break out between groups. It might not be a conventional way to rule, but it works more or less."

"Are you done, Tusks?" Omastar reached into his shell and pulled out a bag of money. "This is for Team Sky and a little extra for the Sandstone member."

"Very well, I'll give you your pay as well." Walrein slapped a flipper against the ground and Chatot ran off to get the money to pay them. "We'll pay you for all three of the Sandstone members anyway. Think of it as a token of friendship from Voyagers. Now get off my ship, Omega!"

"We were just leaving. Than you for the hospitality." Omastar turned to the Omanyte, who led Team Sky and Sandslash out of the room. Sandslash gave one last sad glance at Roy before disappearing behind the door."

Chatot returned and handed the money bag to Crawdaunt. "We'll be leaving as well then." Crawdaunt said. "I think we'll stick around for the tournament and get some bidding in. I'll be bidding on your group, of course. Knowing Roy he probably still thinks he can finish his mission so he should be more than compliant."

Crawdaunt and Croconaw walked out after the members of Bedrock. Walrein walked to the door and locked it behind them. He walked over to Roy and Shadow and cut the ropes off of them. "Now that that's done, I'd like to offer you my hospitality. You're currently on board the Voyager, which is the ship my group was named for. It has been docked and moved several miles from the ocean which, I assure you, was no easy task. The two of you could try to escape, but there are many guards on board since the tournament will be hosted on board this ship."

"So you think leaving us free to roam is a good idea? We're still an Platinum Rank Investigation Team." Roy said.

"You won't be allowed to go wherever you want, of course not. I just have a habit of being especially hospitable to my star competitors before the matches." Walrein walked towards a door on the other side of the room. "Well, follow me. Chatot, Heracross, you're dismissed for the way." The two pokemon gave a quick salute and flew off out of the door ahead of Walrein. "Well, hurry up you two. I've decided to invite you to dinner."

Roy and Shadow glanced at each other before following after Walrein. They knew now that Omastar was Omega and Walrein was Tusks, but Roy recognized him from somewhere else. Aamira had told him about Walrein once, the crazed pirate who had been chasing after Grovyle and Autumn for years before Aamira and Quill helped to chase them off, which resulted in Walrein abandoning half of his crew. If this was really that same Walrein, they could be in serious trouble.

The dining hall was surprisingly spacious. The ship had to be huge, which made Sylva an ideal place to hide it. Anywhere else and the masts would have been spotted easily, but the forest country was famous for its huge trees.

The food wasn't too bad, but Roy wished he could have eaten more. Walrein finally broke the awkward silence that was growing between them. "I've heard you speak a few times, but not your friend. He's not mute, is he?"

"He has a policy against talking to outlaws." Roy said. "He says it makes it easier for them to manipulate their pursuers or stall for time if the pursuers talk to them. I don't really see how that applies to this situation though."

"So does that mean Team Rapids was right about you two? Are you really going to fight willingly even though your mission has been ruined?"

"Even if we can't arrest any of the Bounty Hunters, we still have a job to do. I don't like it, but it's the whole reason we came all the way to Sylva."

"So you'd fight to the very end." Walrein said. "Even if it meant fighting against your brother."

Roy didn't answer. He wasn't sure what to do in that situation. Sandslash had assured him that he would be okay with it, but now they knew their mission was fake and this was all a trap and now that Sandslash had seen what Bounty Hunters were really like, Roy wasn't sure he would be able to do it.

"I could do it." Shadow said. "Roy was right. Not speaking in this case is pointless. If anything it's what you'd prefer isn't it? Just know I'll speak my mind no matter what. I dare you to try to keep me quiet. Our mission hasn't failed yet. Call me crazy, but I still trust Team Rapids enough to fight my own team members if it means completing our mission."

Walrein laughed. "Oh this is rich, and the two of you are going to make me rich! Team Rapids isn't on your side and they've never been on your side. Well if that's your motivation then just go on believing in your 'friends' all you want."

"I have some questions. Nothing compromising, I'm just not sure on this whole thing yet. The pokemon who are forced to fight all go mad eventually, right? So they're just like dungeon pokemon."

Walrein nodded. "More or less. Just like dungeon pokemon except stronger. There are the rare few who volunteer for the tournament and they're just as sane as I am. What else did you want to know?"

"Will you let us go if we win?"

Walrein walked over to Shadow and Roy. "You kids are the weirdest group I've ever met. Let me tell you something. All of that fighting and training leads up to this tournament. If you win, you can do whatever you want. Well, unless Relicanth takes an interest in you. In which case I hear he pays good prices for really strong pokemon."

So either they would end up being released or Relicanth would take them. Either way, it sounded like the plan could still work. "Alright, that's good enough I guess. I'll fight."

"Great!" Walrein nudged them towards a door at the back of the room. "Then you two should get some sleep. I've taken a liking to you. I won't risk you contacting someone for help, so you'll still be locked up, but I'll make sure you get some beds at least."

"We share a room," Shadow said, "or we don't fight. Don't think you can pawn us off to some other group either. It's bad enough we might have to fight Sandslash."

"I wouldn't dream of giving up my stars."

Walrein led them to a cell near the bottom of the ship. They waited for some of Walrein's crew members to bring in some straw for a couple of simple straw beds. They weren't the most comfortable beds they had ever slept in, but it was better than the wooden floor. The two of them were tired so they didn't talk much.

They slept for a few hours before being woken up by a Happiny coming into their cell. It treated their injuries quickly, more as first aid than any real treatment, then left them to sleep for the rest of the night. They woke up early the next morning, or at least they assumed it was morning, surprisingly well rested and in significantly less pain than before.

"How are you holding up?" Roy asked.

Shadow got up and stretched out his legs. "Alright for now." He shivered and the tips of his ears and tail shook. "It's a crescent moon, so it's not like I missed much."

"That's still a weird weakness. You can live forever, but you have to be in moonlight every night or you get weak and sick? What do you do on the new moon anyway?"

"Just deal with it like I did last night basically. Living in Desolo was the worst. The moon is never visible. I had to run from one patch of Lunar Flowers to the next just to keep from collapsing. You know when you pick them they vanish so I couldn't just carry one around with me. What I'm really worried about is that I don't want Walrein or some other Bounty Hunter to know about this. Fatigue after a while would probably be expected, but I doubt I'll be able to fight at all for more than the first couple of days."

"Haven't you ever tried using Moonlight to heal yourself?" Roy asked.

"That uses moonlight I store in the rings on my fur, so it won't work like that if I haven't been in direct moonlight recently." Shadow held up a paw. "Someone's coming."

Roy could sense them too. A few seconds later Walrein opened their door and hurried them out so they could eat breakfast. As they were eating, they felt the ship starting to move.

"What's going on!?" Roy said.

"You didn't think we'd just stay in one place, did you?" Walrein asked. "We'll be back out to sea in a few hours. It makes it harder to notice us and adds an extra challenge to the battles. I hope you're ready. Your first matches are in five minutes and they're expected to be over by the time we get to sea."

Walrein led them to the deck of the ship. There were pokemon standing all around the edges of the deck and a net supported by the masts was suspended over the area. It would be impossible to escape even with wings. Apparently there wasn't any announcer or referee. Pokemon were just pushed onto the battle field and expected to fight. Roy went first, stepping calmly forward. It was weird being expected to fight on a moving ship that was being pushed through the forest, but what about the situation was normal? He had a job to do.

Another pokemon joined him soon enough, one that Roy remembered fairly well. "Aren't you Lucario from Team Rio?"

"Huh?" Lucario took a closer look at Roy. "Oh, you're that little runt from Divum, aren't you? Still playing at Investigators are you? That's adorable. Why would you enter a tournament like this? Or don't tell me you actually got caught. Why would anyone actually want to catch someone like you? I don't get it. Well my students ran out on me after we lost the tournament so I've just been roaming around doing little things like this for the money. People have become quite impressed with my strength if I do say so…"

While Lucario was still talking, Roy looked over his shoulder at Walrein, who was waving his flipper in a way that said "Get on with it already." Roy turned back towards Lucario and formed a silver and gold Aura Sphere in his hand. Lucario went silent and stared for a moment before Roy attacked and knocked him out instantly.

The crowd's reaction was somehow scary. They were almost completely silent and shaking their heads disapprovingly. Roy hoped it was for Lucario and not for him. Maybe he was supposed to drag it out to make it at least look interesting? He had to admit, it really was pathetic. Was he really so weak before that this guy and his students had been able to beat up on him?

Someone from the team Lucario was working for dragged him off and Roy just walked back to Walrein, not knowing what else to do.

"Well, that was interesting…" Walrein said. "Good match… I guess… This is giving us a bit of a dilemma though. Your two matches were supposed to take up the time it took to get to sea. I hope the next one won't be that short."

"It'll be shorter." Shadow said, without showing even the slightest bit of emotion.

"Well do something about that! The crowd's getting restless!" Walrein shouted.

Roy looked around at the crowd. They didn't look so disappointed in the length of the battle, just the money they lost. Apparently no one had bet on Lucario winning, so everyone who bet on Roy hardly got any money. "I have an idea. Why don't you use that to your advantage? Make a bet that Shadow can finish his battle faster."

Walrein laughed and hit Roy on the back hard enough to make him stumble and to knock the air out of his lungs. "I like how you think, kid! Alright, listen up you losers who would never stand a chance against my boys here! I have a little proposal to make this interesting!"

No one thought it was possible that a battle could be shorter than the last one, so they thought it was a terrible idea on Walrein's part but a good way for them to make money. All of the matches were already timed, so it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out how long it took. Roy's match had taken a little over fifteen seconds. An impartial judge who wouldn't be betting was nominated to time the battle.

Shadow moved onto the center of the deck. The opposing team was struggling to hold back a wild Machamp who was anxious to battle. Of course they picked a fighting type since they knew Shadow was battling. Whether they won or lost, the battle had to take longer than fifteen seconds.

Finally they released Machamp, who went running and shouting wildly towards Shadow. Shadow stood rooted to the spot, waiting until Machamp was close enough to attack him. Shadow blinked and his rings glowed briefly. Psychic hit Machamp hard enough to send him flying towards the net. The net broke and Machamp flew off of the ship.

Everyone stood there stunned as Shadow calmly walked back towards Walrein without saying a word. The battle had only taken a little over four seconds. Some of them looked like they wanted to argue, but they all looked like they were too scared of Shadow. They all handed over their money to Walrein without much of a fuss. As far as they could tell, as long as Walrein was happy, they would be okay.

Walrein invited them to eat lunch with him as he had invited them to have dinner the previous night. They guessed that this was their reward.

"Omega and I are the big league Bounty Hunters from Aequor, so we were the first two to join aside from the two big teams from Sylva. You beat the first team so now it's Team Sky's turn. If two teams from the same region advance, they don't fight each other unless they're the last ones standing at the end."

Roy hesitated with replying. He wasn't sure what exactly Walrein would agree with. They had been treated decently so far, mainly because they were the star competitors, but they had seen evidence of the brutality they had heard of. "Could I make a request?"

"I hope you're not wanting to go home just yet! The fun's just getting started!"

Roy shook his head. "No, I know you'd never agree to that. I was thinking about that bet you made before. I was wondering if you could make another one like that. Sandslash and Team Sky aren't going to lose, but Shadow's not as resilient as I am. He tires out a lot faster than I do, so I'll probably have to fight Sandslash at the end, won't I?"

All of Walrein's humor had vanished. He looked more serious than Roy had seen him so far. "That will most likely be the case, yes."

"Then can you make a bet with Omastar? If I win, he lets Sandslash go and if Sandslash wins, you let me go."

"Why would I make a deal like that!?" Walrein shouted. "I won't have you throwing a match just to save your skin!" He paused, noticing Roy tense up, like he was trying to keep his temper under control. Walrein had almost forgotten what sort of pokemon he was dealing with. Roy wasn't doing this to save himself.

"The only way I'll fight Sandslash is if it means he goes free if I win. I know he'd feel the same way. He won't fight me unless I go free if he wins. Unless you want the crowd to riot, it might be in your best interest too."

Roy wondered if he had said something wrong. Whatever it was, Walrein cut their dinner short and hurried them back to their cell. Walrein turned to leave, but turned back to Roy just for a moment. "I don't like Omega having such powerful pokemon with him. I'll see what I can do to make him let your friend go, but you will fight regardless of the decision we come to."

A few hours later they had reached the ocean. The swaying of the ship in a room with no windows made them both sick at first, but they eventually got used to it. They weren't allowed to watch, but Chatot came by to tell them that Team Sky had won the match and Sandslash hadn't needed to fight, but the members of Team Sky were injured so that probably wasn't going to last long.

Later that day, just before sundown, they were taken onto the deck of the ship for another match. This time it was a couple of teams from Pacis they were up against. It looked like they were traveling along the coast towards Aequor and picking up any competing teams along the way. They took down both of the competitors almost as fast as the others with only minor injuries. Team Sky's battle went the same way, more or less.

The next morning some dragon pokemon landed on the ship. They were much more difficult to beat. Roy was horrified to hear that Team Sky was too badly hurt after that fight to continue fighting. Sandslash would have to fight the remaining battles on his own. The team from Incendia Anhelo left after being defeated and were followed up by a team from Divum, which Roy and Sandslash both had trouble with. When those teams left, they continued on to the coast of Chalybs where their two groups boarded. Those teams were much easier to beat.

Finally they sailed by Ignis. Roy heard one of the crew members saying that Relicanth had boarded the ship. They assumed he would be a fire type since he boarded when passing a country filled mostly with fire types. Using Relicanth as a fake name would have been a good move too. Relicanth were extremely weak against grass types and a fire type would usually be able to knock out a grass type easily. During their battle with the Ignis teams though, they didn't spot him. Just before the battle with the Tempestas teams, they heard a rumor he was watching from the window at the helm of the ship, but they couldn't see into it from their angle to see what kind of pokemon it was.

Roy and Shadow noticed that Silex and Glacies hadn't competed. With such a peaceful pokemon like Articuno watching over Glacies and considering how out of the way it was, it wasn't surprising that they didn't have any teams to compete. Of course Silex was so out of the way that even if there were teams there, it would be too much trouble to regulate them. By the end they had memorized the names of all of the big groups and the leader's codenames and true identities. They had tried to be careful, but Roy and Shadow were just too smart of an Investigation team. Walrein had really made a mistake when he let them share a room so they could exchange information. The only one left to find was Relicanth.

Roy knelt next to Shadow, whose breathing had become labored. He had been feeling sick for a few days, but Roy had never seen a pokemon like his. He could hardly believe that Shadow couldn't die from something like this. He just had to lay there and suffer through it. It was amazing that after thousands of years of living, he hadn't gotten stuck somewhere and got so sick that he wasn't able to crawl out into the moonlight. Luckily Walrein just thought it was a bad case of seasickness.

Roy had already fought the last few battles all on his own. He was getting tired though. Sandslash was the same way. Omastar had agreed to the bet and had no doubt told Sandslash that Roy would be released if he won. This would be a real battle between the two of them. They would fight for each other's well being.

"Just be careful." Shadow said through his labored breathing. "There's no telling how long they'll make you two fight before deciding that one of you has really lost. We might have to fight Relicanth if we're not careful."

"I know, just try not to push yourself." Roy said.

Walrein showed up a few minutes later for Roy. He led Roy down the familiar path to the deck of the ship. There was no announcement of the bet that had been made, just astonishment from the crowed, who hadn't expected fellow team members, let alone brothers, to fight so willingly.

'Just stay down…' Roy thought as he fired an Aura Sphere at Sandslash.

'Just give up…' Sandslash thought as he dodged the attack and countered with Slash.

Both of them struggled to get ahead of one another, but they were more or less evenly matched. Sandslash fortunately had plenty of moves that could be used on a ship with no ground to use. Roy knew Sandslash's one big weakness, but he didn't want to exploit it in front of a bunch of outlaws.

Eventually he found that he had no choice. He loved his brother and could tell that Sandslash loved him just as much from the ferocity of their battle, but Roy was going to do whatever was necessary in order to set him free.

Roy jumped up and grabbed onto the metal net that stretched over the deck of the ship. Sandslash attacked with Mud Shot, the only move he had that would reach Roy at that height. Roy, who had been blocking the sunlight until then, jumped out of the way. Sandslash shouted and covered his eyes with his claws. Roy landed behind him and attacked him with Aura Sphere, knocking him to the ground.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Roy ran over to Sandslash, who was still conscious but not able to move.

"You used my eyes' sensitivity to direct light to beat me?" Sandslash said. "Why couldn't you just give up? You could have gotten out of here…"

"I know, but I had to get you out, no matter what I had to do to make that happen. I'm so sorry!"

The crowd was starting to shout and one pokemon even breathed fire really close to them. Sandslash might have still been conscious, but that didn't mean that he could still fight. How could they expect them to keep going? Before the crowd broke into an angry mob, a female voice echoed from the window above them.

"Well done to Roy of Team Sandstone. I don't think we can argue that you've won this battle. That means Voyagers are the winner this time around and they'll be taking the prize." After the announcement that the battle was over, the crowd calmed down.

"Are… are you Relicanth?" Roy shouted back towards the window.

"That would be me." The voice replied. "Yes I've watched your last few battles very carefully. I think that Tusks and Omega will be pleased to hear that I plan to pay them handsomely in order to transfer the two of you to me."

"Walrein and Omastar had a deal that the loser of this fight would be released!"

The voice laughed and the door opened. Six Magby swarmed onto the deck of the ship and surrounded Roy and Sandslash. "Well if that's the case and Sandslash is no longer part of Bedrock, I have every right to take him without paying. I would take Team Sky off of Omega's hands, or tentacles as it were, but from what I hear they didn't perform nearly as well. Don't worry; I'll take Shadow so you won't be all alone. I heard about his record time battle in the first round."

Roy formed two Aura Spheres in his hands. "You can't do that! I'm not going to let you!"

The Magby attacked him. He was so weak from all of the successive battles, especially the last one against Sandslash that he didn't stand a chance. He saw a few more pokemon handing large bags of money to Walrein. Of course Walrein didn't care that the bargain wasn't really upheld as long as he got paid. To think Roy had actually started to think that he was decent. The last thing Roy saw was the members of Team Sky and Shadow being brought onto the deck of the ship before he blacked out.

A few hours later he woke up in a dark stone cell. Sandslash and Shadow were nowhere to be seen. He had a metal collar around his neck that kept him chained to the wall and both of his arms were tied behind his back. He tried to break the chain, but was immediately interrupted by a voice.

"I had a feeling you'd be the stubborn one."

"Let my friends go, Relicanth!" Roy shouted.

Relicanth laughed. "You're funny when you're frustrated. I've already dealt with your friends. It took a while, but they finally understand that the situation they're in is hopeless. You're the only one left with this kind of energy. You should at least know your captor's identity, I should think." Roy flinched as a flash of fire flew towards the wall, illuminating a single torch. A large fire type pokemon stood in front of him. Maybe it was just the light of the fire that made her look so creepy, but this looked like a pokemon that Roy shouldn't mess with. "My real name is Magmortar."

"I don't care who you are. What are you going to do? Threaten Sandslash or Shadow? You want them just as much, don't you?"

"True enough." Magmortar raised her arm and flames danced around above her hollow hand. "I guess we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way."

Roy shut his eyes and turned his head from the fire. He didn't care how badly he was burned; he wasn't going to give in. He noticed the light brighten through his eyelids and felt the sharp sting of tiny embers being blown towards him.

"That was just a warning." The light got brighter. Roy resisted the temptation to open his eyes to see the size of the flames. "This next one is going to hurt. It doesn't have to though if you cooperate. No one's coming to save you. I can burn you however much I want, just like I did to your dear brother."

The door behind Magmortar opened and a Magby came in. "Miss, Crawdaunt wants to see you. She has another plan to capture more Investigation Teams, but they have to return to Aequor soon to avoid suspicion."

Roy opened one eye partially to see what Magmortar would do. She extinguished the flame and turned to Magby. "Those two have proven to be a useful asset to us. Alright, I can finish up here later."

Magmortar extinguished the flame on the torch and left the room, leaving Roy in complete darkness. Roy closed his eyes and tried to sense his surroundings with his aura. He wished he was able to see aura instead of just sense it, but this was good enough. He didn't have any reason to be afraid of the dark. It was one of the few things that never really scared him. Maybe it was because Sandslash had spent the majority of his life in darkness. A few minutes, or even months, wouldn't be enough to scare Roy.

Someone approached from the outside of the door. Roy recognized the aura, but what was he doing here? The door opened and Roy opened his eyes. Croconaw ran towards Roy with a key in hand. He unlocked the metal collar around Roy's neck then quickly bit through the ropes on his hands.

"What's going on?" Roy asked.

"All part of the plan." Croconaw moved towards the door. "Come on, we have to go while Magmortar's distracted."

Roy followed with a single thought nagging at the back of his mind. How had Magmortar managed to make his friends feel hopeless? Maybe Croconaw was still on her side and she was doing this to get his hopes up. Maybe Roy should just knock him out now and escape on his own.

Roy tried sensing any enemies nearby with his aura. Croconaw didn't react, so Roy took this as a sign that he could be trusted.

"Can you use those things to find your teammates?" he asked.

Roy searched for Shadow and Sandslash's auras. Both of them would be easy to identify. "Around the next left corner, then a right, then there should be a set of stairs on the right that lead farther down. There's another straight corridor that continues along there. From the direction we'll be facing, Sandslash will be the third door on the right, Shadow is at the end of the hall on the left. What about all of the other pokemon there?"

"Safety in numbers. Sure let's try to rescue as many as possible." Croconaw turned the corner and knocked out a Golbat with Ice Beam. They continued with Roy searching for enemies while they made their way to the room where Sandslash was. Croconaw used Ice Beam on the door and Roy managed to break it open with Aura Sphere.

"Roy!" Sandslash ran up to Roy and wrapped his claws around him. "I knew you were coming! I knew you wouldn't give into Magmortar."

Roy patted Sandslash on the back. "Of course not. Oh, it's mostly thanks to Croconaw for freeing me."

"There's no time for thanks and I was only doing what the plan called for. Let's get Shadow." Croconaw ran off ahead to the door where Shadow was.

They broke down the door as quickly as they had broken down Sandslash's. He looked terrible and could barely stand. Roy guessed that he hadn't given into Magmortar so much as he was in no condition to be interrogated. Roy knew there was no way Shadow of all pokemon would go down that easily.

They broke open the rest of the doors. Some of the pokemon were hesitant to follow out of fear of Magmortar, some followed readily, and some didn't care as long as they got a challenge along the way. Those pokemon got their wish in the number of enemies who had appeared to keep them from escaping.

Finally they reached a long staircase with a light shining down from above. Sandslash averted his eyes and they ran towards the light. They were almost out. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the pokemon standing in front of the entrance. Magmortar was standing there with one arm raised, ready to fire. She spotted Roy, smirked, stepped aside, and bowed.

"Go on then." she said. "Lead your companions and the rest of mine to freedom."

Roy, Croconaw, and Sandslash walked cautiously passed Magmortar while carrying Shadow, but she didn't make a move to attack them. They looked back at the other pokemon. They stood side by side on the top step, too afraid of what Magmortar would do if they took that final step.

An idea occurred to Roy. He had learned a technique from his father, Ruko, the last time he had been to Atra for a visit. He had used his aura to calm down a Skarmory who got trapped beneath a giant tree that fell on it. Both wings were broken and every movement just hurt it more. Roy extended his aura to the frightened pokemon, trying to send them the feeling that everything would be okay.

He held out his paw to the pokemon. "We'll protect you. You can all go home to your friends and family now. Do you trust us?"

The pokemon looked around nervously. One of them inched closer, moving slowly along that last step, looking almost like they were about to cry, before finally stepping off of the staircase and running towards them. A few more pokemon followed, slightly less hesitant and soon the rest followed as well.

Magmortar smirked. "Well done, Roy." She raised her hand towards the group of pokemon. Roy, Sandslash, and Croconaw placed Shadow on the ground and all ran to the front of the group to protect them. The flash of fire was so bright they had to close their eyes, but the flames never reached them. They opened their eyes when the light had faded. Magmortar had vanished.

Croconaw sighed and placed his hands on his knees to keep himself from collapsing. "She ran for it. Her base was compromised. I'm just glad that's finally over. We need to get to base camp."

"Base camp?" Sandslash asked.

"Everything will be explained when we get there." Croconaw led the way to a group of trees in the distance. They took a moment to note their surroundings. It was a very mountainous area. They could see snow capped mountains to the northeast, a large plateau to the northwest, a giant mountain bigger than all of the others to the southwest, and a forest far in the distance. They were somewhere in the mountains between Glacies, Sylva, Divum, and Incendia Anhelo.

In the clump of trees, they found, Blissey from the Investigator's brigade, Arcanine, about twenty Growlith, Rhyperior with three Rhyhorn, their boss Electivire, Noctowl, Crawdaunt, and the members of Team Sky.

"You're alright!" Ambipom ran towards them and wrapped her tails around all three of the members of Team Sandstone. "I was so worried! You had the most dangerous job and didn't even know it!"

Arcanine led a troupe of Growlith towards the underground structure where Magmortar had been hiding. Rhyperior and the Rhyhorn took some time to ask the rescued pokemon questions while Blissey treated any wounds they had.

"I'm sorry we had to put you in so much danger." Noctowl said. "The original plan that we gave you we referred to as the ambush tactic. There was another tactic that you weren't aware of though that depended on your ignorance. We called this the search tactic. We believed it was possible from the elusiveness of such a massive tournament that the location was constantly changing in order to avoid detection. For this we devised a plan to track them and to, hopefully, find the location of Relicanth's base."

"Maybe I should explain it from here." Crawdaunt limped forward. She was hurt pretty badly, but Blissey had already treated her. "During the fight where we took Sandslash, Croconaw placed a tracking device on Shadow's fur, just behind his left ear so it would be less noticeable." Shadow's ear twitched and he rubbed it trying to feel the tracking device. "It's very small and easily concealed by short fur. Anyway, this was only to be used at the very end since the life span of it is very short and it was meant only as a last resort from the beginning. When we brought Sandslash and Team Sky to the Bounty Hunters and saw that their base was a ship and their captain was a water type, we assumed that the tournament would in fact move and that they were just using the forest as cover. We really did give the wrong location as we had told them, but not intentionally. The information on the map that Noctowl showed us was outdated and they had moved since then."

"So what does this plan involve?" Roy asked.

Noctowl continued. "The two of you would advance as far as possible in the tournament. Team Rapids would continue to make bets on you to draw as much attention as possible to you two out of hope that it would catch Relicanth's attention and she would take you to her base. Team Sky, who didn't have a tracking device, would be knocked out of the tournament as soon as possible and escape to find us and inform us of your last known location. They did this as soon as the ship went ashore off of the coast of Tempestas. When they returned to Sylva and informed us that the plan had gone smoothly, we activated the tracking device. Team Rapids joined us here at the camp and then went undercover to speak with Relicanth and to help the two of you to escape."

"So you guys knew about this too?" Sandslash asked Ambipom and Primeape, who both stared back guiltily.

"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you when we were caught together." Ambipom said. "The mission relied on you not knowing though. We didn't know what sort of techniques they would have in order to get information out of the pokemon they caught. It could have been that they would have a psychic type that could read minds, or they could have someone who could tell when someone was lying. Even if you didn't tell them exactly what was going on, if a pokemon could tell you were lying about something they would know something was up."

"So you used us to track Relicanth and find the base." Roy said. "I don't like being kept in the dark about this kind of thing, but I can understand why."

"You helped to free a lot of pokemon and also capture quite a few Bounty Hunters." Noctowl looked up as if to emphasize his point. Arcanine led the way for a large troupe of pokemon, some of them in the Growlith's custody and some walking freely. "It looks like they've found the stragglers and the villains."

"But Relicanth, Magmortar that is, escaped didn't she?" Roy asked.

"If you remember that was never part of the mission." Noctowl walked into the tent he was using and came back out carrying a huge book bound in wood that was painted black. "This is what we call a black book. It lists the most notorious villains. This one is specific to Bounty Hunters. You two spent the most time around them. Have you found any of the identities of any of the leaders?"

Roy nodded. "All of the ones who showed up. The groups they're from, the regions they live in, their aliases and real identities."

"All of them!?" This was the first time they had ever heard Noctowl sound so surprised. "You stayed focused on the mission even when you believed you were betrayed? And then instead of escaping right away to save yourselves, you insisted on staying behind to free as many other pokemon as you could. That is quite admirable… Well any information you can give about the Bounty Hunters will be placed in this book. They won't be able to hide for much longer."

"If I may interrupt." Electivire said. "Magmortar is really the one that goes by Relicanth?"

Roy nodded.

Rhyperior walked over. "And she was picked up around Ignis, right? My own jurisdiction and she was hiding right under my nose the whole time."

"Do you two know her?" Roy asked.

"We were an Investigation Team when we were younger." Electivire said. "We were all co-leaders, Magmortar, Rhyperior, and myself. Rhyperior became the officer in charge of Ignis, I became the leader of the Investigator's Brigade after working there for many years, but Magmortar had vanished before then. I had feared for her safety; I can hardly believe what she's become, but I'm certain from the evidence that Arcanine found in there that it is indeed the third member of our Team Sintrio."

"We can worry about that later." Noctowl said. "The important thing is that we get all of these pokemon home and reward our young friends for their hard work."

"About that…" Roy said. "I don't feel like we really did anything."

"That's ridiculous. You've done so much. You've found the leaders and locations of all of the worst Bounty Hunters. This will benefit so many pokemon, even if you're not the ones to personally free them."

"I think what he means is that it doesn't feel like we intentionally took part in completing any mission." Shadow said. "All we were was a way to track Magmortar. We had no knowledge of the search tactic so we didn't really realize we were doing anything to help at all."

"And you don't think that deserves a reward?" Noctowl walked back into the tent and came back out with three boxes stacked on top of one another. He placed each of them in front of Team Sandstone, Team Rapids, and Team sky. "You've each shown unbelievable courage on this mission, which not many pokemon would have been able to handle. Team Sandstone especially. Without knowing that you were involved in any mission, you memorized the names and faces of so many villains," he waved a wing to the pokemon around them, "and freed all of these pokemon from the worst of them."

Noctowl called everyone to gather around the teams for a special ceremony. Crawdaunt and Croconaw opened their box first. Inside it was a plain wooden Aura Glass. Thiers had been taken away when Kingdra took Aequor back. "I would be honored to reinstate Team Rapids as an official Investigation Team. You have much to do to catch up to your peers, so be sure to work hard." Team Sky was next. They opened their box and pulled out an Aura Glass that was made from clear crystal. "For dedication to a mission even in a hopeless situation and showing a great amount of focus and intelligence, it seems only right that we would award Team Sky with the Diamond Rank." Roy's heart raced as he stepped towards the box. It could be only one thing. He unlatched the box and the lid swung open. His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw it. Roy picked up the Aura Glass and held it high so everyone could see it. A thin metal frame, a powerful lens, a marble handle and a black diamond embedded at the bottom. "Team Sandstone is the youngest of our three teams here, and yet when not even on a mission to their knowledge, they showed courage beyond what most pokemon would consider possible. Their kindness and concern for others and trust in each other never waned, even when apart. If any team was ever worthy of the Master Rank, it's Team Sandstone. You are now among one of the very few elite teams that bare this title."

Roy looked up at the Aura Glass. It looked just like the others he had seen before. The ones he remembered most clearly were the ones given to Quill and Aamira just before they were arrested. 'I've finally caught you, Aamira. Have fun in your world, but when you get back, you'll have a new rival to compete with.'


	33. Special Episode 3: Growing Up

There was the signal. Sure enough, a few seconds later the suspect came running by. Grovyle launched from his hiding place and chased after, staying just far enough behind to appear to be a threat, but not getting close enough to actually attack. He knew that this pokemon was dangerous, especially when confronted, but he preferred to run. All he had to do was herd him into the trap.

Yes! There it was! Grovyle ran to the left to keep the enemy from escaping, herding him into the gully where the ambush was waiting. There was only one other exit, a thin one that was barely noticeable when compared to the entrance. The pokemon noticed it immediately and ran for it. Just before he entered, an Ivysaur dropped down from the cliff above, blocking his path. Their third member, a Bayleef, leapt out of the thick shrubbery surrounding them and grabbed the pokemon with Vine Whip. She was having some trouble so Ivysaur helped out with his own Vine Whip.

"This guy's strong!" Ivysaur said. "Grovyle, help us out."

Grovyle ran up to the villain and knocked it out with Leaf Blade. "Whew, that's finally over.

Ivysaur and Bayleef suspended the unconscious pokemon, who went by the name Marowak between them and walked towards the entrance of the gully. These three pokemon were the young members of Team Overgrow, a new team who had just started out months ago. They were still Normal Rank, but they expected to be promoted any day now. They had gained a reputation as a group dedicated to bringing villains to justice. Their very first mission had involved catching an outlaw and so had ever mission since. If there was ever a mission where an outlaw of any kind was involved, Team Overgrow was normally the first to be called on, in spite of their rank. However, while a villain had never once gotten away from them, they would sometimes spend days tracking them, so the time it took to catch them outweighed the points they got for the mission. Their rank was improving much slower than other teams.

"Maybe we should try some other types of missions." Bayleef suggested.

"Do you really think so?" Grovyle asked. "This is what we do best, isn't it? I don't care how fast we level up. There would be so many more outlaws running free if there weren't teams dedicated specifically to catching them."

"I agree, but I think ranking is important too." Ivysaur said. "We'll be allowed to go on more difficult missions when we do, so we can take care of the stronger outlaws. These guys are little more than petty thieves. That's why we're not rewarded as much. They pay a fine and leave and some are never heard from again, some go right back to thievery and are usually given higher ranks which, at that point, we're not allowed to go after them."

"It's not just that either." Bayleef said. "I mean it's great that we're being all chivalrous and helping pokemon by going after outlaws, but I'd like to do some exploring too. You know, investigate some old ruins or something. It's what we trained for in the academy and I always assumed that was the sort of work we'd be doing. I don't want to sound selfish, I'd just like it to be more balanced, that's all."

"Well let's just see if Noctowl has some kind of mission for us. If he does, we'll take it. If not then we'll look at some other missions."

Bayleef liked Grovyle enough. He was a good leader, but he got in over his head sometimes. They had a record time for the graduation test because of his speed, Ivysaur's strength, and her smarts, but he could be a distraction, and be distracted easily, at times too. He had had a crush on her for a long time, and he wasn't as discreet about it as he thought he was. This mainly bothered her because she wanted to be part of a professional team and she was worried that he just took all of these outlaw missions to impress her.

They arrived at the prison where they handed Marowak over to a couple of Growlith. Arcanine thanked them and gave them a reward.

"I'm glad the two of you took on this mission, no one's been going on missions at all today." Arcanine told them when they were preparing to leave.

"Why's that?" Ivysaur asked.

Arcanine smiled and waved her tail once excitedly. "A Gold Rank team has come to visit. Everyone who's able has taken the day off in hopes of meeting them. They're a fairly old team, actually. They ranked up slowly just like you kids. Apparently they've made some kind of discovery to the north of here and they're passing through on their way there."

"Wow, a Gold Rank team!" Bayleef could barely contain her excitement. She spun around and turned to her two teammates. "Well? Let's go meet them! I want to see what a real Investigation Team is like."

"We are a real investigation team…" Grovyle said irritably. "I guess if you really want to though…"

"Great! Let's go!" Bayleef ran off ahead and headed towards town square.

Their timing couldn't have been much better. A crowd had already started to form, but they could still see the three larger pokemon over the heads of the crowd. In the center was a yellow and black striped pokemon with two long black tails. To his left was a pokemon covered in orange stone with a drill-like horn on his nose. To his right was a pokemon whose entire body was covered in a flaming pattern.

"So where will you be going, mister Electivire?" One of the pokemon in the crowd asked. Electivire was the only one at the moment not being swamped with autograph requests. It looked like he was probably the leader though. Maybe people were just too nervous to ask him.

"The entrance to an old dungeon was just recently uncovered." Electivire replied. "This dungeon was once an old ruin rumored to have an amazing treasure in it, if it really is the ruin we think it is anyway. That's why we're investigating it anyway."

"We really should be going, don't you think?" his fire type partner asked.

Electivire nodded. "You're right, Magmortar. We shouldn't waste too much time. We'll probably be back in a few days to rest up. You all can ask all about the investigation then."

A loud chatter rose from the crowd as the team turned to leave. Bayleef wasn't paying any attention to it though. She stood, rooted to the spot, too nervous to approach.

"Take us with you!"

Everyone, including Bayleef, turned to Grovyle, astounded by his request. She had wanted to ask the same thing, but she had been too nervous.

The three team members turned to look at Grovyle. Electivire's teammates didn't look too enthusiastic about the idea, but it looked like he was considering it at least. Bayleef and Ivysaur stepped up to stand next to Grovyle. Electivire looked over the three of them and noticed the Normal Rank Aura Glass that Grovyle was still carrying.

"Yea, why not." He finally said.

"You can't be serious!" his rock type teammate said.

"Rhyperior's right. They're just kids and look how low their rank is. Doesn't get any lower than that." Magmortar added.

"We used to be the same way, didn't we?" Electivire said. "Team Sintrio has come pretty far, but we're still a long way from Master Rank. I think these kids could learn a lot from us and we'd probably learn a thing or two from them as well."

His two teammates hesitated, but nodded in agreement. Bayleef was so excited that she couldn't help letting out a little shout. They must have thought it looked weird for a different member of the team to get more excited than the one that asked to go.

They decided to meet outside of Town Hall when they were ready, so Team Overgrow left to get prepared for the mission. There were no arguments from anyone else, it just meant more time for autographs and questions. They were apparently a really famous team where they were from.

Not knowing what to expect, they overstocked on items. Bayleef felt a little embarrassed to have so much equipment. They'd probably think that they were a new team that had just formed or something. Each of them took out a hold item too. Grovyle got a Power Band, Ivysaur got a Zinc Band, and Bayleef got a Pecha Scarf. When they were finally ready, they returned to Town Hall.

"Ah, looks like you've prepared well. That's good. You should always bring extra items to a new dungeon when you don't know what to expect." Electivire said. "I talked to Noctowl. He agreed to let you go with us if we looked out for you. Don't tell him this, but I want to give you a little test. Instead of coming along as some sight seers, I want you three to make it through the dungeons on the way there on your own. If you can do that, we'll let you investigate the ruins with us. If not, you'll have to come back here. It could be too dangerous if you're that inexperienced."

"We're not that wimpy, we've caught a ton of outlaws already." Ivysaur said. "I bet we can even get there before you!"

"Challenge accepted, kid!" Electivire turned and ran off in the direction of the ruins.

"Hey, hold on a second!" Rhyperior shouted to him. He and Magmortar both ran after him.

"Wait, we don't even know where to go!" Bayleef said. "You don't think they left us on purpose, do you?"

"I don't think so. Let's just follow then and we'll figure it out." Grovyle said. "Yea, it's just like catching an outlaw. We'll follow Team Sintrio."

The three of them ran off after Electivire and the others. They assumed their normal formation for when tracking outlaws. After a while Grovyle was able to guess where they were headed based on their movements. They left the other team alone and ran off ahead. Ivysaur and Bayleef had to be fast in order to keep up with Grovyle, so getting ahead of the three massive pokemon wasn't too difficult.

The region turned into mountainous lowlands and soon the trees vanished. Nestled in the mountains was a strange sort of entrance. It looked like a set of stairs that led underground, but it was buried in rubble as if the layer of earth that had been covering it had just recently caved in. They walked towards it cautiously. Underneath they could see some kind of stone walls with odd writing on them. This had to be it.

"So you got here first after all!" Grovyle and the others turned to see Electivire and his team emerging from the forest. "Not bad. Not bad at all. Well, it's getting late, so we should sleep for now and continue in the morning."

They ate a quick dinner from the food they brought with them. Grovyle was always tired after running a long distance. He could tell that Ivysaur and Bayleef were too, but they insisted on staying up late to talk.

Grovyle managed to sleep for a while before being woken up by the sound of his name. He never understood why in a crowd of overlapping voices and various conversations his name always managed to catch his attention, no matter how lowly it was uttered. This time it wasn't a crowd of voices, it was just one; Ivysaur's.

"You don't talk as much as your teammates, you know?" Rhyperior had said to him.

"I know." Ivysaur replied. "I think Grovyle's the most outspoken member of the team."

"That explains why he's the leader." Magmortar said.

"No, that's not true." Bayleef said. "Actually we're all co-leaders."

"I know what you mean." Electivire said. "We're all co-leaders of our team as well. A lot of teams do it this way, but there will always be that one member who's viewed above the others. I think out of the three of you, Grovyle will probably be the one to do it.

Bayleef hesitated for a moment. "The thing is… I think I'd rather be the leader than have a leader like him."

'She doesn't want me to be the team leader…?' Grovyle thought. 'Why, Bayleef? I thought you really liked me… I really liked being on a team with you, so why would it be so bad if I were the leader?'

Bayleef continued. "It's just that he's kind of childish. I mean more than normally for our age. He's really stubborn, which I guess wouldn't be too bad if he were stubborn about the right things. He's always wanting to go on outlaw missions, but we need to show that we can do more than just that if we ever want to climb the ranks. Truthfully I hate the outlaw missions. I'm afraid that some day we'll come across one who's too much for us and either he or Ivysaur will end up getting hurt."

"Grovyle seems like the type with a strong sense of justice." Electivire said.

"No, I don't think that's it either. See, a few years ago something was stolen from me. It wasn't anything valuable, but Grovyle was furious when he found out. I got over it years ago, but he still thinks he's going to catch the outlaw that stole from me. We don't even know for sure that it was an outlaw. It could have just been a classmate playing a joke on me. Is it conceited to say that I feel like he does everything for me? I don't want that kind of leader. I couldn't respect someone enough to be leader if they act so childish. He just really needs to grow up sometimes. I don't think he even wanted to come along on this mission; he just knew I wanted to ask but I was too nervous to."

'I'm sorry, Bayleef. I didn't know.'

"I don't like that we chase outlaws all the time either." Ivysaur admitted. "That was never what I wanted to do when I signed up to be on an Investigation Team. I think Grovyle would be a good leader if he thought more about the team than his teammates, you know what I mean? I know it's good to worry about your friends, but with him it's constant. I know he thinks outlaws are bad and need to be punished, but again he's obsessing over it. He thinks outlaws are bad and everyone else is good. I don't think the world is as black and white as that. For all I know, one of you will turn into the worst sort of outlaw in the future and you're all good Investigation Team members now."

That part Grovyle knew had to be wrong. There's no way an Investigation Team member would ever become an outlaw. It was impossible.

Grovyle laid awake, turned away from the others for a few hours. He couldn't think now with so many thoughts stirring around in his head. He got up after everyone else had fallen asleep and walked over to the collapsed dungeon entrance. It wasn't like catching outlaws was the only thing he was good at. Maybe he had never officially gone on an investigation like this before, but that doesn't mean he wasn't any good at it.

After a little muscle work, he managed to clear out the entrance so the others could follow him when they woke up. Grovyle walked down the staircase into the dark corridors beneath.

The dungeon was dark and filled with strong pokemon that he had never encountered before. Like so many times before he had to wonder why the dungeon pokemon attacked. Were they upset about something, simply guarding their territory, or were they just as bad as the outlaws? If that were the case, why would Investigation Teams ever accept any of them as team members? Maybe they were only evil while conscious inside of a dungeon and when they were knocked out it actually saved them somehow. What a strange idea, but it didn't sound entirely farfetched.

He looked for signs of any treasure or other major discoveries in the ruins, but there wasn't much there aside from corridors and various rooms. Many of the walls were lined with ancient scripts that he didn't understand. Maybe they held some kind of key that led to the end of the dungeon. If they did he couldn't figure out how.

He looked around with his Aura Glass to see if he could spot anything unusual. There were lots of footprints from the various pokemon that lived here, but nothing that would help him. He turned to look over his shoulder, which was something he had been doing ever since entering this place. It was a lot easier with teammates to watch his back. Maybe it was about time he went back and got help from his team and the others.

Grovyle turned and started walking back towards the exit, but stopped when he stepped into the next chamber. This wasn't the way he had come from. Was he lost? He always wondered why pokemon got stuck in dungeons. Apparently it was a lot easier than he had imagined. If you couldn't make it all the way to the end, you were stuck until someone came looking for you.

"Great, now what…?"

A Golbat attacked him from the shadows, knocking the Aura Glass he was still holding out of his hand. Grovyle attacked it back with Leaf Blade. It wasn't a very strong attack, especially against a Golbat, but after a few attacks he managed to knock it out.

Grovyle looked around frantically for his Aura Glass and eventually found it, broken into a thousand tiny pieces. This wasn't good. It was the Aura Glass that kept Investigators from becoming like dungeon pokemon; he knew that much at least. If it had just cracked maybe that would give him more time to search for the exit, but it was possible Golbat managed to hit it directly. It had completely shattered.

Suddenly panic stricken, Grovyle ran off to find a way out of the dungeon, leaving his broken Aura Glass behind on the ground.

Bayleef stretched and yawned. It took her a minute to remember why they were sleeping outside and why she hadn't been afraid of being ambushed in the night. They weren't on a hunt for an outlaw this time. "Good morning, Ivysaur. Good morning, Grovyle…" She looked over to the place where Grovyle was sleeping, which was now completely deserted. "Grovyle!?"

Bayleef jumped to her feet, grabbed her Aura Glass and looked around for his footprints. They lead directly to the entrance, which had been cleaned out during the night.

"Guys, Grovyle's gone! He went inside already."

Everyone else started to get up groggily. As soon as Ivysaur realized what she was saying, he ran over to stand by her next to the dungeon entrance. He looked at Grovyle's footprints that were without a doubt leading into the ruins.

"Why would he do that?" Ivysaur asked. "I thought he preferred outlaw missions, so why would he run ahead of everyone like that?"

"Oh, you don't think…?" Bayleef turned to face the members of Team Sintrio. "You don't think he was awake last night, do you? I didn't really think about it then, but it was incredibly rude for us to be talking about him like that…"

"He might have been listening, but it wasn't your fault." Electivire said. "It's a leader's job to listen to the concerns of his team members. He hasn't been listening well up to this point has he? Maybe this is good for him, I don't know, but you did nothing wrong. You spoke honestly about what you thought of your leader. It's not as if you dislike him, is it? Otherwise you would have quit already."

Bayleef shook her head. "No, I could never hate him. Of course not. It still doesn't make it right though, does it? Talking behind his back like that. If we had problems with the way he was doing things, we should have just told him to his face even if we had to force him to listen to us." she turned away and walked towards the dungeon entrance. "I don't care about the investigation anymore. I'm going to go find him. You guys should keep investigating the dungeon on your own."

"Now hold on, he's my teammate too." Ivysaur ran after Bayleef into the ruins.

Magmortar walked up to Electivire who was just watching the entrance of the ruins where Ivysaur and Bayleef had vanished. "I told you it would be a bad idea to bring kids like them along. They're just a bunch of hot headed children who have no control over their emotions."

"We were no different though, were we?" Rhyperior said before Electivire could reply. "I can understand wanting to be around kids like them, but they're not us. You know that, right? Maybe they won't get anywhere as an Investigation team, maybe they will, but they have to do it their own way."

"So what do you think we should do?" Electivire asked. "Should we go in after them, or let them go? They could get hurt. One of them might already be hurt. It could be the best way for them to learn though. They don't know what they're doing; I doubt anyone does until they actually do it."

Magmortar sighed and walked towards the entrance to the ruins. "Alright, I know what to do."

Bayleef and Ivysaur continued as far into the ruins as they possibly could. Same as ever, they were hunting down a pokemon, but it was a little different. It wasn't really because the pokemon they were hunting down was Grovyle; it was mainly because he wasn't there to lead them. They never really noticed before how uncoordinated they were without him. They knew every motion he made and could tell what attack he would use at any given moment. They could react to his motions as easily as an enemy's but not each other's. Going through this dungeon without him they were like an orchestra playing without a conductor.

"What do you think would happen?" Ivysaur asked after they finally got a moment to rest after a vicious attack by several enemies. "I mean, if anything ever happened to Grovyle, what would happen to us? I don't think our team could go on without him, you know?"

"Yea, I know what you mean." Bayleef replied. "Either of us, I think we're more or less dispensable without him. I doubt the team could keep going."

"I don't know, I think you'd be a good leader too, Bayleef. Maybe I wouldn't have a career anymore if something happened to him, but I feel like either of you could do just about anything."

"Me a team leader?" Bayleef laughed. "I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. I know what I said before, but Electivire was right about leaders. They might not ever be intended but after a while it's clear who it is. I kind of realized when he said that that I was content just with being part of the team. I can kind of understand why Grovyle only wanted to go on outlaw missions now too. It was just more useful, wasn't it? There weren't enough people to take on all of the outlaws and it's a lot more useful to people than going to bring back some kind of shiny gem or something. I was happy about going on this mission, but really it felt like a field trip more than anything. Now it feels like we're actually being helpful somehow."

"I guess you're right." Something sparkling in the distance caught Ivysaur's attention. "Wait, what's that on the ground over there?"

They ran over to the object, which was a shattered Aura Glass. There was no doubt who it belonged to. Bayleef snatched it up and the two of them ran off ahead to search for Grovyle. He was in serious danger. Even he had to know that if he hadn't lost his mind already.

They heard a familiar rush of footsteps behind them and dodged to the sides just as Grovyle jumped between them and attacked them both with Leaf Blade. He turned back to face them. There was a slight glow in his eyes like dungeon pokemon tended to have. They had come too late to save him.

"Grovyle? Can you hear me…?" Ivysaur took a hesitant step forward. Grovyle noticed the slight motion, turned towards Ivysaur and attacked with Leaf Blade. Ivysaur started to fight back, but it was still his friend. Somehow he just couldn't bring himself to fight back. Bayleef wanted to help, but she was conflicted by the same problem. Within minutes Ivysaur was down.

"Grovyle stop it!" Bayleef shouted as Ivysaur was finally knocked out.

Grovyle turned to her and rushed forward to attack. Bayleef closed her eyes and braced herself for an attack. She noticed a flash of light from behind her eyelids. She opened her eyes to see Grovyle unconscious and covered in burns. The one who had attacked him was Magmortar, who had followed Bayleef and Ivysaur into the dungeon.

"What did you do!?" Bayleef shouted at her.

"He'll be fine." Magmortar walked over to Ivysaur and Grovyle and picked them up. "Knocking a pokemon out in a dungeon helps them regain their senses for some time afterwards. Normally they'd just go back to being violent again unless they join your team and completely heal too, which makes it look like there are a lot more pokemon in a dungeon than there really are. If a pokemon gets an Aura Glass though they can stay sane for a while. Same if they're removed from the dungeon in time. I'll take these two back out and you can keep investigating the dungeon if you'd like."

"How can you still think about the investigation after something like this happened?" Bayleef asked.

"I just think it would be a waste to go back after getting this far." Magmortar replied. "I'll take care of these two; don't worry. To be honest, I think this will be good for you. I know we spoke a lot last night about team leaders, but there are many different kinds of pokemon. There are natural born leaders such as Electivire or Grovyle, there are followers such as Rhyperior and Ivysaur, and then there are pokemon like us; the loners. We can do whatever we'd like with or without team members. I have the feeling you're like that. You have the kind of skill and ambition to be able to do whatever you want. Why don't you prove it by going after the treasure?"

"I'm not sure if I like how being a loner sounds. I'd rather stay with a team. Besides, do you know for sure there's a treasure here?"

"That's what Ninetales' diary said. That diary of hers is filled with information about old ruins like these. It was written down by one of her ancestors more than a thousand years ago and she's been using it to uncover places like these and sending out Investigation Teams to them."

Bayleef stared at Grovyle for a moment. He would be safer with Magmortar surely. Besides, bringing some treasure back for Grovyle and letting him know how badly he messed up would probably be a good idea. She didn't really consider the monetary value of it, but it was true that she was already pretty far into the dungeon. What was the point in turning back now?

Bayleef agreed and continued through the dungeon while Magmortar brought Grovyle back up to the surface. She didn't really understand what Magmortar meant at first by being a loner, but soon she figured it out. Constantly watching Ivysaur and Grovyle's moves in order to match their attacks with her own had been a hassle, but on her own Bayleef was able to attack however she wanted.

Magmortar was right. Something about this did click for her in a way. It felt natural just to go through places like this on her own somehow. She still liked operating in a team, but she knew she was capable of being either a leader or a follower depending on the situation. Her adaptability was unmatched by her other teammates. If they were ever separated somehow and Bayleef ended up in the worse situation, she would be able to handle it better than either of them.

Finally she reached the last chamber. There were a few pokemon guarding it, all Vulpix strangely enough considering there hadn't been any anywhere else in the dungeon. To any other pokemon they might not have been a challenge, but this was the closest Bayleef had ever come to fighting a dungeon boss and they were all at an advantage to her. It was a struggle, but in the end Bayleef finally managed to defeat them all. The Vulpix ran from the dungeon and Bayleef walked up towards the treasure chest.

"I hope it's worth it for all of the trouble." Bayleef walked up the staircase leading to the small treasure box. It wasn't locked, probably didn't need to be with the Vulpix guarding it. She opened the box and pulled out the only thing inside of it; an old book with a strange symbol on the front that looked like a solar eclipse. She hadn't seen anything like it before.

She sat the book on the ground and opened it. There was no point in waiting to read it outside, right? Maybe it was for the best that she didn't wait. There were many strange things written in the book. On the first page was the title. "A Thousand and One Prophecies of the Silent Poet." Underneath it was a dedication. "To the rookie Investigator who finds this. Guard it well."

There were so many mysterious riddles in the book. During one legend she thought for sure that she was mentioned. A Meganium that fell through the world into a world of complete darkness. Was it just a coincidence? Her mind was soon redirected to another prophecy. "Three Heroes and Banes of Reality". How could anyone be a hero and bane of the same thing. The prophecy itself was just as unclear as the rest, but there was a legend that went along with it. Strangely enough, not just one but two legends, as if they were the best possible ending and the worst. The bad ending spoke of the end of all worlds and a cold-hearted pokemon who would rule over the remnants of reality after the murder of her own brother. The good ending spoke of a pokemon who would save reality from shattering, although the only noticeable difference was that her brother survived. But there was more to it.

"The next part of this legend was something never meant for this pokemon to see or know until the time came. In destroying reality as we know it, she fulfilled her master's wishes and the universe became his before her inevitable betrayal which led to her ruling in his place. In saving reality, she kept her master from winning at all, which opened up an entirely new chapter. The story splits there, but it was destined to split again. At some point she will make another choice; whether to kill that part of her that led to the destroyed reality or allow it to live. Judging by the earlier decision that the character from this timeline chose, you might have already guessed that she will allow it to live, but it will no longer be with her.

"They will split apart, this time for good, never knowing what the other is doing, never knowing that they both simultaneously will work towards the same goal that neither of them can see, and never knowing that their seemingly all powerful master was never supposed to win. His failure is as inevitable as the split between these two personalities, but unfortunately there is something worse waiting. Something that they will work to defeat together, worlds apart and yet right beside one another. What is the reason for this? There are three heroes that were chosen to be a part of this legend, but how do you stop something happening in two places at once? Make two of the key character. The universe works in strange ways.

"I've met the legendary pokemon, all of them in fact, including Arceus who is rumored to be the creator of all of reality. Before then I believed the same, but then he said one thing that changed my perspective forever. 'It is true that I was born from chaos and that it was my role to make sense of that chaos, but if I created everything, then who created the chaos that created me?' It was then that I realized that the universe always knows exactly what to do, even if it means sacrificing reality itself to save it. After all, the bad end universe wasn't created for nothing. The pokemon from that world still have a vital role to play in all of this, even as you read this, Bayleef."

'It knows me!' Bayleef continued to read further.

"Your role may be small, but it is also vital. You save this person's life and she saves yours. Sadly enough, maybe even by the time all of this has gone underway, you still won't know each other all that well. Just know that no matter what anyone else says or who you travel with, you are never alone. Tell her that too, because she won't believe you. Now first things first, make sure none of your team members see this book. Take it straight to Noctowl and have him watch over it. The members of Team Sleuth must never read it."

"Team Sleuth?" Bayleef said. "I've never heard of them."

"You don't need to worry about who they are. The members of Team Sleuth won't appear for many years yet. But I need to know, will you do this? Will you make sure this book is protected?"

Bayleef nodded. "Yes, I will. I can see now. I'm not supposed to be some sort of loner; I'm more like a guardian of some sort."

"Allow me to take a moment to point out you just responded to writing in an old book out loud and with a nod. That's fine, I probably would have told you to anyway so I could hear it. And yes, in a way I can hear you. There is a guardian who will play a part in this, but not the same sort you are. There is also a shadow, but not the same as the many shadows that appear throughout this book. They are the other two heroes. Perhaps it is unnecessary for me to tell you this, seeing as you already understand the importance of this, but I shall record it anyway for the sake of recording it. There are two other characters who will play a vital part. One is a trigger of sorts who will constantly give these three a reason to keep going. On their first meeting, our main hero gave him something, which neither of her friends realized was missing. This is also important. The second is a true loner although he would never feel the effects of it as most eventually do. I had the pleasure of knowing this child personally before the time loop. I believe I'll end this here. There are many things that bring me sorrow but this specifically is a sensitive issue for me personally. Make sure the book is guarded well and remember that you are never alone."

Bayleef closed the book and wrapped it in her vines, holding it close to her. In just a few hundred pages she felt her whole life change. The lives of this and many other worlds were in her grasp. Even the thought of their being other worlds chilled her, especially since she knew she would eventually go to an entirely different world. Ivysaur would understand, but Grovyle couldn't see this. She had to give it to Noctowl as soon as possible.

Bayleef hid the book at the bottom of her bag and made her way out of the dungeon. Everyone was there waiting with worried expressions melting away into relief as they saw her emerge from the dungeon.

"We were getting worried about you." Electivire said. "Did something happen? You seem much more grown up than when you went in there."

Bayleef managed a smile. "I'll admit, it was really a life changing experience. A little disappointing, considering there wasn't any treasure and so many pokemon guarding an empty box, but it was worth it, I think." She turned to Grovyle. "I really am sorry for the things I said last night."

Grovyle shook his head. "No, it's fine. I shouldn't have let criticism from a friend bother me so much. If I really am supposed to be the leader, I'll just have to work harder at it, won't I? I could use some help, if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course! You didn't think I was about to quit the team just because you ran off on your own once, right? You know what? I learned something really important in there."

"What's that?" Ivysaur asked.

"Remember when I said before that I was starting to think that Investigations weren't as useful as helping people directly like we do in outlaw missions? I was wrong. Things that we learn from investigations are really important, aren't they? Like we know that there's nothing here, so no one will go looking, right? Kids won't wander in looking for a treasure that doesn't exist and end up in trouble. Outlaws will probably stay away. And just think if there really was something important in there, something that could change the entire world. We never know what we might find; the monetary value of a treasure doesn't mean anything and I thought that was the whole reason anyone ever went on Investigations before."

Rhyperior crossed his arms. "Well would you look at that. The rookie figured it out. Let's hope the leader can catch on because he still looks clueless."

After they all had a nice laugh together, they returned home, only to find out that Noctowl hadn't given them permission to go with Team Sintrio after all. Electivire had lied in order to let them tag along. As if things couldn't get worse, they had to tell him about what happened to Grovyle, since his Aura Glass had been destroyed and they needed a replacement. Life changing experience or not, they weren't about to rank up from a folly like this.

After everyone else had left, Bayleef requested to speak to Noctowl for a while alone. She told him about what she really found in the dungeon and showed him the Silent Poet's book. As she expected he had never heard of the poet or the majority of the legends and prophecies in the book. When he got to the end of the book, he was as surprised by what was written there as Bayleef had been.

Noctowl closed the book and placed it on a table on the west side of the room. "After all that I said to you three, who am I to argue with fate? You should be promoted for this, but they would get suspicious if I decided to go against what I said before and suddenly raised your team rank for no reason."

"It's okay; ranks not really that important to me anymore." Bayleef said.

"I will guard the book as the Poet requested. But surely the mysterious author would know how all of this ends? If the heroes from this story will never read this, then why not record the ending? If it ended badly and they didn't want the reader to worry, why write it at all? It's meant as a means of keeping a record of these events, so why not include the ending?"

"Because they don't know how it will end." Bayleef suggested. "This is all just a guess as to how this all plays out, a way to guide the future either to victory or the edge of a bottomless cliff. That must be it. It's the reason why the heroes in the legends aren't allowed to read it. They need to make their own choices."

"I believe you're right." Noctowl closed the book like he would do so many times after this first time. Over the years, he would memorize every word contained in those pages, waiting for the heroes to arrive. Team Overgrow would continue to go on many adventures together. One day a young Cyndaquil would show up with an Espeon. He would slowly lose his mind over the course of a few days, but seem perfectly normal aside from his frequent conversations with the fog of Shroud Lake. A few years later, Bayleef, a Meganium by then, would be killed during a mission, or at least that's what their team members would think for a long time after that. In reality she arrived in that other world, saved by a Lucario and a human, who would save her in turn just a short time later. Months later through a long series of events, these three would finally meet and they would all be together and the longest and most dangerous mission ever given to any Investigation Team would finally start.


	34. Chapter 31 The Center of Maze Castle

Quill got into his usual battle stance, concentrating as much of his power as he could. Espeon stood in front of him with her tail swishing back and fourth, waiting for his attack.

"Let's see it." Espeon said. "If I was able to learn it, you should have no problem."

Quill struggled to speak while the energy was still building up inside of him. "It would be easier if I had a gem embedded in my forehead."

He let the energy go towards Espeon. She flinched and was knocked a few inches into the air from an attack that seemed to hit from all sides at once. "Oh, not bad. I think you've got it. Extrasensory needs a lot of concentration to control, so be sure to practice regularly."

Quill nodded. "Got it." He turned to Latias, who was hovering over Lake Harmony, where they had been training. "Are you ready to go?"

"Wait, Quill! Don't leave yet!" Daisy ran up to him with her paws cupped together

"I'm sorry, Daisy. I told you, you can't come this time. I don't know how dangerous it will be. A lot could change in six months. It could have gotten better or worse since I've last been there."

"I know, but I want you to take this with you." Daisy handed him a small blue stone, which he recognized as the clasp from the treasure box from Daisy's first ever Investigation. It had been so long since then. So much had happened. Daisy still had nightmares about Houndoom and occasionally Zoroark.

"But this is your treasure. Are you sure?" Quill asked.

Daisy nodded. "Yea, I'm sure. You said you'll only be a few days, but you say that a lot. You'll be gone a lot longer, so I'm giving you my treasure. Maybe that way you'll have to come back to return it to me eventually."

Quill smiled and put Daisy's treasure in his bag. "Of course I'll give it back. I promise I won't be gone too long."

"Hurry up, Mew's only opening it for a few minutes, you know!" Latias said.

"Right, I've got to go." Quill gave Daisy and Espeon both a quick hug before jumping on Latias's back. She circled around the lake once before diving into in and disappearing beneath the surface of the water.

Daisy took her Joy Ribbon off and looked down at it in place of her own treasure. 'You always promise…'

"Do you see them Aamira?" the usual voice asked in Aamira's dream. A short flash of three objects came to her mind in the darkness. The Reflecting Mirror, Amberwing, the sword belonging to the king of Atra, and the Dragon's Eye, a pendant that had been passed down through Aamira's family for as long as anyone could remember.

"Yea I see them. Three objects made of amber. Are they important?" She asked, pretty much knowing the answer already.

"Very important. Think of what these objects do. The mirror gives you knowledge, the sword gives you strength. Both require someone with a mastery of aura to use. What then, do you think the pendant does?"

Knowledge and strength. Aamira had heard these before. "Something to do with a person's will?"

"Very close. That's all I can tell you about them, I'm afraid. You have to figure out what they're for on your own."

"When do I do that?" Aamira asked.

"When it wakes up." The voice replied.

"Will I be able to meet you soon? Or can you at least show me what you look like in this dream? I really want to know."

"I don't look like anything anymore. It's complicated, but where I am is preventing me from taking a substantial form. Zoroark prevents it. But yes, we will meet very soon. It could be weeks or even months, but I feel the moment drawing nearer. I hope you like my eyes."

"I'm sure I will."

As usual, Aamira was woken up soon after by Lucario shaking her awake. He looked worried. For some reason Aamira never woke up right away, but it seemed like it was taking a progressively longer time for her to respond.

"Sorry, am I late for anything?" Aamira asked, rubbing her eyes.

"You slept in your cloak. Again." Lucario said. "Do you even have enough time to take it off at the end of the day?"

"Not really. I'm usually exhausted after getting through Faris's schedule. Am I late for anything?"

"You missed breakfast again." Lucario said. "Other than that, no."

Now Aamira felt a little guilty. She knew Lucario must have missed breakfast too because he was too busy trying to wake her up. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, there's still a lot to do. Did you finish that letter to the king of Neltona yet?"

"No, it's almost done. Really." Aamira looked over at the letter on her writing desk, which was almost blank. It didn't help that her handwriting was so terrible and having paws instead of hands made it even more difficult. They still hadn't decided on a meeting place either, but Aamira knew what she was doing. "You know what I'm always saying about politics, right?"

"Politics are based on how busy you look as opposed to how much you actually do. Is that what you're up to? Stalling?"

"Basically." Aamira rolled out of bed and stretched. She wished she had her hammock back. It was a lot better for her spine structure. Sleeping on her stomach was a little awkward, but it was the most comfortable for her. "You know all of that damage I've been fixing since chasing Zoroark out? Fake."

"You're joking. Please tell me you're joking."

"I'm not unfortunately." Aamira said. "That tax thing? That was the only real thing and that was a loop hole that had existed for generations before Zoroark came around. Sure made everyone happy though, didn't it? Suddenly everyone had money again. But the rest of that stuff? Making it look like Zoroark had really messed up the kingdom? Mainly slander. He kept things running pretty smoothly actually. That's the basic idea of why I'm stalling on the letter so much though. Trying to make the king look like I'm busy and that my kingdom is more important than he is, which by our society's standards it is. There's bound to be some friction between the kingdoms as usual so the first meeting is really important. I don't want it to look like I'm trying to appeal to him in any way and I don't want to look weak either, but I can't look entirely irresponsible by waiting too long either. Appearances."

"Long live the queen." Lucario said sarcastically.

Aamira laughed and pulled at her cloak, trying to make it look straight and unwrinkled. She had a few of them, but she really liked this one. One of the main problems when she became queen, for some reason, was that pokemon didn't really wear clothes but Aamira didn't exactly look regal either. Leavanny compromised by making her cloaks that framed her shoulders which weren't very prominent otherwise. It did make her look stronger at least, which Aamira had no arguments about. It folded around her so it almost looked like a dress, which was the only thing that got the more old fashioned government members to agree with it, but it was still just a cloak. This particular one was modeled after the Aura Reader's symbol on Aamira's scarf. The cloak itself was purple also like her scarf was. People liked to see her in this one since it had become like a personal symbol. They didn't accept having a pokemon monarch right away, but when they did it was only to see her as a sort of good luck charm. It was a role Aamira could accept.

Aamira started with Faris's usual schedule, which was mostly pointless tasks that normally would have been given to a future monarch, but unfortunately Aamira couldn't remember ever doing any of this so she had to start as if she were just born six months ago. She didn't mind training with Lucario, which was always reserved for some time in the morning, and she didn't mind actually doing relevant things such as public appearances or donating to various charities, but there were still so many pointless tasks that filled the rest of the day every day. She never had a day off. Not once in six months had she been asleep before midnight or slept in past seven, even when Lucario couldn't wake her up. As far as anyone knew, it was just exhaustion that made her sleep a little longer.

This was a special day though. It was one of those monthly meetings where she would discuss the problems of the kingdom with Faris, Lilly, the new librarian and scribe Sharon, and a few other people. Basically it was just them reading the people's concerns to her, such as not as much crops growing as the previous year and a shortage in the amount of fish caught. It really was the most boring thing she had ever had to sit through and mostly pointless since she met with the people who issued their concerns personally immediately after. She guessed it was to give her time to think of a response, but how would she know how to respond before actually meeting them? Everyone was different. As it turns out, the farmer didn't rotate his crops so they were failing and the fisherman had cut his own nets to collect insurance. Her exhaustion had started to catch up to her, but then there was this old lady who came in carrying a small baby in her arms.

"This child's mother recently died from a terrible illness. I am very old, but also the only thing she has left. I know there might not be much that you could do, but could you give this child a blessing of some kind?"

That was her request. Aamira had to be honest with herself, it wasn't because it was a kind and honest request that Aamira was no longer on the verge of falling asleep. She was completely terrified.

'I wasn't told what to do in this kind of situation! What do I do? Some religious ceremony? Well wishes? What!?' She wished she was able to speak telepathically with Lucario to ask him if he had any ideas, but unfortunately she didn't have that luxury. It was just her, the old lady, and Lucario standing somewhere to her left unable to interfere.

At the very last second, before Aamira really started to look like a fool through her silence, there was a loud crash and a streak of red and white flew through the large stained glass window at the top of the throne room, circling around them a few times before coming to a stop in front of Aamira.

"Aamira!" Latias shouted. "Oh wow it's really you! You look so funny on that huge throne!"

"Um… thanks…" She started to wonder how much worse things could get when Quill peaked his head out from behind Latias and jumped down.

"Long time no see! How have you been?"

Aamira looked between Quill and the old lady standing behind him, who looked completely terrified by what had just happened. "Yea, that's great but I'm really busy right now."

Latias turned to the old lady and immediately as if by instinct noticed the baby in her arms. "Oh what a cute little mini human! Is this what your hatchlings look like? They're adorable!"

"We… don't hatch… but yea…" Aamira was glad that the old lady was more concerned with Latias at the moment. No one seemed to notice that Aamira had said 'we' when talking about human children. Even now she was still adjusting to being a pokemon again.

"It really is adorable." Latias said directly to the old lady. She bent her neck down towards the baby and nuzzled its short hair with the tip of her nose. "Yea I don't know much about humans but it looks really healthy. Are you its mom? You've been doing a really good job taking care of it. It'll grow up to be happy and healthy for sure as long as you keep giving it lots of love!"

That was when the ruined stained glass window fixed the situation. A smile formed on the old lady's face which continued to grow until eventually she reached out a hand and hesitantly placed it on Latias's neck. "Thank you… Thank you so much…" She turned to Aamira and grabbed both of her paws. "Yes, thank you so much! You really are the best thing to happen to this kingdom since your mother."

The old lady hurried out of the room to the guards who were waiting to escort her out. When she was gone, Faris came in. "That was the last… Oh, you have more company." He looked up at the ruined window and then at the glass covering the majority of the floor. "We just had that fixed too…"

"I'm sorry…" Latias said.

"It's fine. They're not as expensive as you might think actually." Faris pulled a scroll out of a bag tied around his waist. "Alright, that's finally over. Next on the list."

"Augh the list…" Aamira said. "Faris, I'd like to point out a slight flaw in your… very well thought out and neatly organized agenda."

"What would that be?" Faris asked, looking suspiciously between his scroll and Aamira.

"There's a dragon in the throne room. Not just a dragon, but one capable of flight."

Aamira let those words sink in for a moment. Faris didn't make a move until he realized what Aamira was saying. They both moved at the same time. Aamira jumped up, grabbed Quill's paw, and jumped onto Latias's back with him while Faris ran towards them to try to stop them.

"Go go go!" Aamira shouted.

Latias flew back out through the window with Faris shouting angrily behind them. The only acknowledgement he got at all was a sly smirk from Lucario who had come to expect this sort of thing from her.

On Aamira's instruction, Latias flew to the top of the clock tower and the three of them sat there watching the setting sun.

"Just like last time I was here." Quill said. "It doesn't look like much has changed at all."

"It really has though." Aamira said. "I was officially crowned a couple of days after you left. We were really on edge then. There must have been dozens of assassins. The guards caught three, but there were probably more. We still had to continue though. I had a feeling everything would turn out alright. So there I was just almost absentmindedly agreeing to do things for the kingdom, the usual boredom started to settle over the crowd that was gathered, and Victini flew out from behind the throne, snatched the crown from Faris, and dropped it lopsided onto my head. There was silence and then laughter, just like when Anima was crowned. I like to imagine that the assassins just gave up and went home at that point. You should have seen the look on Faris's face too."

"Wow so in a way Victini saved your life?" Quill asked. "I can't leave you alone for a few days. How did you survive six months?"

"By doing absolutely nothing. Well I fixed a loop hole in the tax system that gave a huge refund to pretty much the entire kingdom so now everyone is at least decently wealthy and the king of Neltona contacted me soon afterwards. I'm guessing he's intimidated, but I'm not sure. We've exchanged a few letters and we're trying to agree on a meeting place. Aside from that I don't do much and I hardly ever go outside anymore either. Sometimes I wonder who the gardens were planted for if the castle's owner can't even enjoy them. Today I guess I just finally reached my limit. Thanks for visiting. Really. I needed a nice surprise like this. I definitely wasn't expecting Latias."

"Is it safe being out here without any protection?" Latias asked.

Aamira pointed at a few flying types circling the clock tower above them. "They're watching. Besides, I can take care of just about anything short of Zoroark attacking, which they're not going to be much help against.

"I've heard about him but it looks peaceful enough right now. It feels strangely invigorating here." Latias said. "I like this world. I think I might stay for a while. Fly around and explore it maybe."

"It could be dangerous. Zoroark's still out there somewhere, probably with some new scheme by now. If you do, try to stay away from the far north. It gets dangerous there."

The three of them were quiet for a while. Quill could still faintly feel Aamira's emotions. They were stronger now that they were closer together, although while back in his world he thought for sure he could feel something every now and then. What was she feeling now? It wasn't something Quill was really accustomed to feeling from her. Regret?

"Do you wish you had just let him fall after all?" Quill asked.

Aamira shrugged. "Sometimes. Thinking about what he put me and a bunch of other people through, I can't help it. But then looking at how he's run the kingdom, aside from building a secret army for his own purposes and imprisoning a few innocent people and pokemon, he really hasn't done anything bad to the kingdom itself. Of course what I've had to do is pass him off as some sort of horrible tyrant and there were a lot of people who were afraid of him, but I guess everyone has their own style with leading."

"Yea, maybe…" Of course Zoroark was a terrible person, but it was true the kingdom wasn't in ruins. "Of course he probably just acted like a decent leader as part of a cover. You know, try to not start a revolution before his plan was successful."

"He's probably the worst pokemon I know. I have to see the after effects of what he did to Lucario every day. I hate him for it, but then I think about how the battle ended. When Staraptor caught him and left the only visible injury, he actually looked terrified. I never thought someone like him could look terrified over anything. I enjoyed seeing him afraid. It actually felt good for our roles to be reversed for once. But even then, it makes me feel like I'm like him, if I can make someone that afraid. Torn between satisfaction and guilt at my enemy's injury. Can you believe that?"

Quill moved a little closer to Aamira. "Knowing you? Yea, I can believe it. A strong sense of justice mixed with someone capable of even the smallest amount of trust after all of this. You always try to look for a little good in everyone don't you? Do you think there's any in him?"

Aamira was silent for a long time before standing up. "I honestly don't know. I'd like to think that everyone has at least some good in them, but Zoroark? We should head back. It's almost time for dinner."

Quill and Aamira climbed on Latias's back and they headed back to the castle. Faris had a few things to say to Aamira when she got back, but Quill doubted she was paying any attention at all. It was strange seeing the dining hall so full and energetic. It was hard to imagine that Zoroark once sat where Aamira did now.

Everyone had a place to sit at, but there were a few opened places for them. Aamira was sitting between Faris and Lucario, as they figured she always did. Quill hadn't seen Lucario before he went back home. He didn't even really think about Lucario until the day he got back home. He looked different than what Quill remembered. He didn't have the same ruthless look that he did when Zoroark altered his memory, but he didn't exactly look the way he was supposed to either.

Aamira and Lucario were eating slowly compared to everyone else, speaking to each other in low tones. Lucario didn't speak nearly as much as she did, but he was still listening.

"Have you been doing alright today?" Aamira asked.

"Better than some." He kept eating, his paws shaking slightly. It was hard to tell if it was from anger or nerves.

"You've been getting better, but I can't pretend I didn't notice earlier. When that old lady grabbed my paws you started to move towards her, didn't you? More like jump towards her. You didn't already forget that I used to be human too, did you?"

"I stopped myself."

"Yea, this time you managed to stop yourself. What about the next time an elderly person and an infant get near me? I know it's difficult but you have to try to forgive humans for what they did or didn't do. In the memories you got from me was there ever any instance where a human not working for Zoroark did something like that?"

"The blacksmiths who killed certain pokemon to make their shells into armor. Illegal or not, they still do it don't they? Don't pretend that you don't know they don't, even if there is no proof."

Aamira nodded. "They do and I can't do anything about it without evidence, you're right."

"And what about all of these humans?" Lucario asked, indicating all of the humans that were sitting and eating with them. "None of them respect you, you know. You're more like the kingdom's mascot than its monarch. You just do as they tell you and everyone's happy about it. Isn't that exactly how Zoroark took over Atra thousands of years ago? By using the monarch as a puppet so that no one realized what was happening until it was too late?"

"I trust everyone here even if you don't and if what the kingdom needs right now more than a monarch is a mascot then that's fine by me."

Lucario finished his dinner in silence and left before anyone else did. A few people glanced in his direction, but didn't pay much attention other than that. Quill guessed this was common.

As much as Aamira tried to pretend, it did upset her that no one really recognized her as the queen even after what Victini did during the coronation. She could understand why he was so frustrated since she felt the same way. The issue had become a big enough concern that she came up with a way to overcome it. She hadn't even spoken to Faris about it. Ever since she officially became the queen, they had become more distant from each other. Aamira still talked to Bisharp sometimes, but it didn't feel like she and Faris ever had a real conversation anymore. If Lucario hadn't been there, she thought she might have gone insane.

Aamira had to wait until everyone else left the table. Just one more annoyance. After that Latias flew off to explore the city and she was able to wander freely with Quill.

"Looks like Lucario hasn't changed all that much." He said.

"Some days are worse or better than others." Aamira agreed. "Sometimes he's sure that one set of memories is fake and the other is real, other times he has no idea, sometimes he even thinks that they're both fake. I can kind of understand that I guess. For all I know I was just some random kid who showed up here and Zoroark decided I'd make a good pawn so this whole thing about me being the heir and now the queen could just be some elaborate hoax, first created by him then everyone else to replace their last monarch."

Quill was a little taken aback by how easily she was able to explain it. This was obviously something that she had spent a lot of time considering before. Of course that couldn't be possible, could it? Whether it was or wasn't, she was a queen now and the leader of an entire country. Even so Quill could tell that she'd rather be searching for Zoroark. The safety of the kingdom was one thing, but she really hated her job.

"I have made some effort to track him down, even from here." Aamira led Quill to a door with an electronic lock much like the one that Ul had on his basement door. Aamira punched in a code and the door opened on its own. It was Darach's old lab, now repaired and fully functional. "There were a few files hidden in the computers that no one could find, but luckily I have an assistant who's a lot better with computers than I could ever hope to be. Right, Porygon?"

One of the monitors turned on by itself and Porygon Z appeared on it. "You're much too modest, your majesty. You've improved greatly since your triumph over the vermin."

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'your majesty'? Aamira's just fine!"

"Ah, but if I am not mistaken, that's exactly what you want from everyone else, isn't it? To be acknowledged as their true ruler. Not that it's any of my business I suppose. What devious plots shall we unfold here tonight, hmm?"

"That's really the same Porygon?" Quill asked. "He's so different."

"I spend a lot of time down here…" Aamira admitted as she sat in the chair in front of the monitor. "Alright, can you pull up the sequences?"

"Do you even have to ask? You hardly look at anything else." Porygon's image disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a couple of oddly shaped coiled objects made of different colored components. There were a few numbers and graphs that Quill didn't understand and he doubted Aamira understood them very well either.

"What are those?" Quill asked.

"Genetic sequences. Basically what entirely makes up every living thing. It can be altered by different mutations slowly or rapidly, as is the case in most pokemon. This is the secret to evolution. Now look at this one on the left. Notice anything weird about it?"

Quill stared at the strand of DNA as it cycled along the screen. There were so many combinations of different components, it was hard to believe that all of this was what made a person what they were. There was a sort of twisting spine made of small objects on the outside, which were all connected by odd strands of chemicals on the inside. Or maybe it was the spine that held the chemical together? It was hard to tell, until Quill noticed something out of place. In a few spots, there were some chemicals missing, or in an order that didn't seem to be normal and caused the spine to become deformed in some places. "What are those blank spots and those things that don't fit together?"

"That's it. That's not something normal. Mutations aren't always a good thing. Some lead to horrible incurable diseases, such as this one, Hemophilia. It's a disorder that causes blood to have trouble clotting. This one is apparently a severe case. Even the most minor of injuries could prove fatal if not treated immediately. I thought it was strange that Zoroark was his same maniacal self during that entire battle, no matter what happened, but he saw a little blood on his arm and freaked out. You could probably tell for yourself that he's not usually someone who's afraid of blood, so it wasn't a normal reaction for him. That's when I found this, his genetic code with the mutation for Hemophilia."

"So he has that blood disease then? So he could have died already."

"From something that minor? It's a possibility, but I doubt it. I saw what happened to him after nearly being killed by Shadow Lugia. He was half dead even hundreds of years later, but Houndoom kept him alive in salty hot springs. It looked like the salt helped to close the wounds. If he could survive something like that, I doubt that an injury as small as the one he had is going to be enough to finish him off."

"Are you doubting or hoping?" Quill asked.

"Maybe a little of both. Never mind how boring things have been with him out of the way, apparently there's something that hasn't happened yet that that we're both supposed to be involved in. That's what most pokemon I've talked to get a sense of anyway. It's kind of creepy actually."

"What, that feeling that the pokemon in this world get?" Quill asked.

"There's some reason pokemon tend to shun human society. I made certain positions open to pokemon without partners, but Victini was the only one to ask to become a guard. Whatever the reason is, it's not some obscure political one, I'm sure of that. They don't mind that humans are technically the ones in charge because they're waiting for something. And then there's that feeling that most pokemon who have seen us both get, that Zoroark and I are supposed to do something important. You know how we used to be involved in legends a lot? This somehow seems more important than any of those, maybe because nothing specific has ever been said about what's supposed to happen and yet every single pokemon who was born in this world instinctively knows something is supposed to happen. I haven't been a pokemon long in this world, but sometimes I do get this weird sort of sensation. It's kind of like a voice that's constantly urging me on towards something, but I can never really get a distinct feeling of what it's saying."

"Maybe that will change the longer you're here." Quill suggested. "So what's this other DNA strand from?"

"Oh yea. That one's mine. I think part of the reason I even exist is because he was hoping to find a way to cure it for himself. I have the traits for it too, if you look closely, but my blood can clot. It's not really cured though, it just means I'm a carrier so if I ever had children then there's a chance that they could have it too."

"But is this human DNA or pokemon?" Quill asked.

"It's entirely Riolu and has been from the day I was born. DNA is supposed to dictate appearance along with abilities, but for some reason that wasn't the case. I was a human with Riolu genetics from the start. There's so much that genetics alone don't explain. There was this cat, for instance, that was a direct clone of another, but even though the genetics were exactly the same the patterns on the fur were different."

"Cats? Zoroark studied some weird things."

"That one was actually humans. Not all of this technology is his, he's just borrowing it. In fact that's probably how he got started. His past self probably borrowed technology from this time. I haven't seen him since and I found out how he was getting here, so I don't think it will happen again. He'll have to figure out everything on his own from now on."

"Which will lead up to this point." Quill yawned. "Why does this all have to be so complicated?"

"Are you tired? I could find a spare room for… actually you could just stay with me. Wow, six months and I'm already forgetting that I used to share a room with someone." Aamira got up and stretched. "It is starting to get late, we should go to bed. Porygon, can you power everything down for me?"

The graphs and the models of the two DNA strands vanished and Porygon reappeared. "Don't I always?"

They walked towards the exit and all of the lights and computers powered down behind them. Aamira closed the door back and it locked automatically behind her. "Straight to bed as usual. Busy day tomorrow."

"Why? What's tomorrow?"

"You'll never believe this but I have a kingdom to pretend to run. Now that's exhausting work."

Quill smiled a little uneasily, not sure if she really meant this as a joke, or if he was supposed to feel bad for her. He assumed it was some sort of combination of the two since Aamira would never want anyone to feel bad for her on purpose.

They passed by several guards to a room that Quill knew was the room Aamira used to have when she was younger. She explained that the ruler of the kingdom usually stayed in a certain room in the castle, but that room still had Zoroark's aura lingering in it and it made her feel uncomfortable. Of course she wasn't going to stay in the one that she stayed in when Zoroark had her locked up either, so she just chose her old bedroom. Quill had a feeling that she hadn't told anyone about the secret passage yet.

Aamira was just about to close the door when Bisharp came running up to them. "Excuse me, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Is something wrong?" Aamira asked. The way Bisharp asked it, it sounded more like a personal problem than anything official. "It's not about Faris's stupid schedule, is it?"

"No, it's… It's just something that's been worrying me for a while. I'm sorry but could I talk to you about it alone?"

Aamira turned to Quill. "I'll be back in a while. Go ahead and go to bed if you want."

Quill nodded and he watched Aamira leave with Bisharp, closing the door behind her. Quill jumped up onto the bed and was surprised by how soft it was. Of course a queen would be living in luxury. He curled up near the pillows and within minutes had fallen asleep. It was a strange thing, sleeping in this world and not worrying about a sudden ambush.

It didn't feel like Quill had been asleep for more than a few minutes before he heard the sound of panicked voices nearby. He didn't want to get up, but he knew that it had to be something really urgent considering where he was. He opened his eyes and lifted his head just as Faris and Lucario came running in.

"She's not here, like I said!" Lucario said.

Quill looked over at the other end of the bed. The covers hadn't been disturbed at all. "She never came back… Where's Aamira?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Faris said. "First Bisharp then Aamira, how did this happen?"

"Wait, Bisharp too?" Quill jumped out of bed onto his feet. "Bisharp was here last night. She wanted to talk to Aamira about something, so the two of them went off together. Aamira said she'd be back in a while, but I guess she never came back…"

"And Bisharp vanished too." Lucario said. "How dare you blame my lack of vigilance when your own partner can't even watch over the one she's supposed to protect!"

"I get it, you blame me. That's fine. Right now we need to think of a plan to find them."

"Do whatever you want, I'm going to look for them!" Lucario ran back out of the room, leaving Faris behind with Quill.

Lucario was almost nothing like how he was before. The one thing that had stayed the same was that he wanted to protect Aamira. Quill wasn't about to make him search all on his own either. Something was weird about this though. Aamira captured? It had happened before, but that was either when someone else was in danger or when someone had turned on her after she tried to talk them out of the situation they were in. For Aamira to let something like that to happen inside her own castle, whoever it was behind this must have been trouble.

"I don't really know the castle all that well." Quill said to Faris. "Where should we start looking?"

"I've already looked in the dining hall and barracks for Bisharp, so they're not there. They might not even be in the castle anymore. How could this have happened?"

"Did you check the lab yet?" Quill asked.

"No Aamira's the only one who knows the pass code for it. She said there are things in there that even I shouldn't have to see."

"Let's start there then." Quill led the way, retracing his steps from the previous night.

Why would she be in there now? He had no idea, but it was his best idea on where she might be. After making sure Faris wasn't watching for Aamira's sake, Quill typed in the pass code and they went in. The lab was deserted and dark, just as it had been when they had left the night before.

"Porygon, can you turn the lights on?" Quill asked.

The lights flickered on and Porygon appeared on the main screen, his wings and tail spinning around as usual, as if nothing had happened. "What's this? Aamira's not with you? What do you think you're doing in here?"

"So she didn't come in here?" Faris asked.

"Not since she and Quill were here last night." Porygon replied. "Has something happened?"

"Aamira and Bisharp have both gone missing. Do you have any idea where they might have gone?"

"I'll check the security sensors, but with the amount of traffic through the castle, there most likely won't be anything significant." Porygon went silent for a moment and several floor maps rapidly flashed across a screen to the left of him. "Oh there is something here." The maps stopped on a strange circular area outlined in regular corridors to each side. "The censors at the center went off sometime last night after the two of you left. I was sleeping at the time so I can't tell exactly when this was or how many, but someone definitely went through there."

Quill looked up at Faris, who had gone pale. "What's wrong? What's the center?"

"The center of the castle. Aamira, Bisharp and I were the only ones who knew about it aside from Zoroark. Many people have tried to map out the floors of the castle only to find wide areas of the floors that are separated by walls. Some of these are empty or solid space, some are secret passages. One thing about the castle that has intrigued many people is what was in the center. The people who have tried to map out the castle found that there was a large hollow area at the center that most assumed was an old blocked off courtyard or maybe the castle's original keep that had fallen into disrepair and became too dangerous to fix. We found the entrance, though, hidden in the room where Zoroark and all of the previous kings and queens have stayed. That was where we found the Celebi that had gone missing years ago. She had been trapped there all this time by Zoroark."

"What exactly is in there though?"

"I never would have thought anything like it existed in this castle. It's really best if you just saw it for yourself."

Quill nodded, feeling a little apprehensive now about Aamira going missing. He said that the only one who knew about the entrance to the center of the castle aside from them was Zoroark. He couldn't really come back now of all times, could he? Right when Quill came to visit? "Thanks for the help, Porygon."

Porygon nodded and shut down all of the power in the lab. Quill and Faris left the lab, closing the door behind them so it locked automatically, and continued up to the entrance to the center of the castle.

The main bedroom wasn't as large as Quill had expected it to be. There weren't even any windows in it. Regardless of whether Zoroark lived there once before or not, he could understand why Aamira wouldn't want to stay here. It still had his lingering smell in the room. He just wanted to find Aamira and leave.

"It's through here." Faris pushed against the stone wall next to the bed and the bricks that had fit together to form a seamless wall slid forward. Quill walked through and Faris followed, closing the entrance behind them. Quill lit his fire to light the way and they continued down a narrow staircase into the walls of the castle.

It felt like the stairs went on for miles, winding around the castle, or more specifically the center of the castle. Finally they reached a dirt floor, the very bottom of the castle. No one had even bothered to put a floor in on this area. As they continued towards the entrance, Quill noticed something odd; old bricks similar to the ones that formed the city's sidewalks and the edges of old buildings that didn't fit the architecture of the castle. What was this place?

They reached a set of large steel doors. Faris directed Quill to a lever on one side of the door and he pulled on a similar one on the other side. The steel doors slid open. They had to be at least two feet thick. It was amazing that every single person in the castle wasn't able to feel the tremors caused by it.

Quill knew the castle was big, but he never realized just how big it was until stepping inside the center. The room on the inside was a patchwork of thick brick and steel. The dirt flooring looked like it had been compressed into stone over time. Bright lights lit it up and not a single window could be seen in the entire place. The most disturbing thing was a set of large chains against either wall.

They found Aamira near the back of the room with a Leuminite collar around her neck. She looked scared, but not panicked.

Quill ran towards her, relieved just to see she wasn't hurt. "You're okay! We were so worried about you."

"I never would have thought the lights in here could be so disorienting." Aamira said. "How long have I been down here?"

"All night." Faris walked towards her and started an attempt to get the collar off. "I'm just glad you aren't hurt. Where's Bisharp? She went missing the same time you did."

Aamira hesitated. It didn't look like it was something she wanted to talk about. "It's really not her fault. If anything it's mine."

Faris stopped trying to unlatch the collar and stood up straight. "What are you talking about? What happened to her? She has to still be alive or I would have died too."

They got their answer, perhaps, sooner than they would have liked. Aamira was stalling, not wanting to answer, and while they were silent, Bisharp came in through the same iron doors that Faris and Quill had gone through. "Faris? That's not right. How did you find us before Lucario?"

"Bisharp what's going on? I thought you were in danger, and you just came walking in here freely?"

Bisharp walked past them, unopposed and walked up to Aamira. Aamira took half a step back, not being able to fight with the collar around her neck. "Isn't it obvious? I'm the one who brought Aamira here. I said last night that I had some concerns that I'd prefer to speak privately about. That much was true. You can't honestly say you agree with having a pokemon run your kingdom, can you? And what about me and the rest of the pokemon who are partners to the guards and other staff at the castle? We all felt so privileged, as if we were doing something we were born to do. Then Aamira came along and opened it up for everyone. It doesn't matter that Victini was the only one to accept her offer, just the act itself was an insult! I though that Aamira would be a good queen and maybe that's true, but didn't all of the problems before stem from a pokemon ruling the kingdom? Give it a few more years and she'll be no better than Zoroark."

Quill let his fire flare up and he got into a battle stance. "Now that's going too far! Aamira's a great leader. I haven't been around to watch her run an entire kingdom, but I know she is from leading our team with her! This kingdom couldn't have a better ruler!"

Bisharp was silent for a moment before turning to face Quill. "You've watched her lead, right? And you meant to tell me there's never been a single moment where she's done something unusual? What kind of people made up your team? Aspiring heroes? Former villains?"

That much was true. Their team did have a lot of former outlaws, but they were all really good people now. But had Aamira ever done anything strange? Maybe once before. A few times. In their very first mission, in fact, when she had pretended to join Charmeleon. It had come so naturally for her. There was a moment when he really believed that she was serious about joining him. A small moment, but it had happened. But Aamira never abandoned him, or anyone else.

"We don't just learn from people we like. Even our worst enemies can make us better people. I think Zoroark did just that for Aamira. She just needed a little motivation in the beginning."

"If it's true that our enemies could make us better, then isn't it true that our allies can make us worse? Maybe that's what happened. Not that it matters. Do you honestly think I'm working alone in this? A human's partner exists to make sure they don't go astray. This entire kingdom has done just that. A rebellion has started and unless you humans can figure out a way to fight us, it will be pokemon in charge from now on. Or maybe you'll just roll over and let us take your kingdom from you, since you were already so willing to accept one as your queen."

"You want us to fight you?" Faris asked. "Bisharp, you know we can't do that."

"Exactly." Bisharp started walking towards the exit. "Even Quill wasn't able to attack me out of fear of hurting you, was he? Learn to stand on your own or fall." She glanced back. "By the way, you know how the previous king and queen were poisoned? I found a sample of the poison when I snuck into Aamira's lab."

Not even paying attention to Bisharp anymore, Faris rushed over to Aamira. "She couldn't have. She poisoned you!?"

"There never was a cure found, was there?" Aamira asked. "That's fine. I'm a pokemon so it won't work as quickly on me. I apparently still have a few days left. It's surprisingly slow acting."

"It had to be to make it look like a disease. I never expected this to happen though. Bisharp is leading a rebellion against the kingdom!?"

"Starting from inside the castle from what she told me. Apparently she wasn't the only one insulted by me allowing wild pokemon to have jobs here. So what are you going to do?"

Faris paced around obviously frustrated. "What can we do? We can't fight our own partners! We should get the council together somewhere. Barricade ourselves in somewhere while we come up with a plan. Try to find a cure for the poison, of course."

"So your plan is to come up with a plan?" Quill asked.

"We weren't prepared for something like this, what else can we do!?" Faris picked Aamira up in his arms. "I'll send a message out. No, I can't do that. All of the messengers will probably intercept them. They can't be trusted."

"I'll do it then. Just tell me who to find." Quill said.

Faris brought Aamira up to a small meeting room where he wrote out messages for other council members. He showed Quill a picture of each. And Quill ran off to find them. He found Lucario along the way and told him what was going on. Lucario took half of the messages and helped to deliver them before returning with Quill to the conference room. It took some persuasion for them to allow Lucario in, since they knew that he disliked humans. Aamira pointed out that Bisharp had thought that Lucario would be the first to find them, not Faris, which meant that Lucario wasn't a part of the plan. While Lucario didn't like humans, he made it clear to them that anyone who poisoned Aamira was going to be an enemy of his automatically.

"So now we're all here, the doors are barricaded and pokemon are running amok around the castle." One of the council members that Quill didn't recognize said. "Now what do we do? We've never fought an enemy like this. We'd be just as well off swinging a sword at ourselves."

"Well we have to don't we?" Another one said. "If we can't fight our own partners, then we'll just have to switch off. Fight someone else's."

"So you'd want me to accidentally kill you if I hurt your partner too badly? No, this is impossible! There's no solution to this! If the pokemon die, we lose the population anyway!"

Someone outside the room started to bang against the door. The tables and cabinet that they had used as a barricade shook, threatening to move out of place.

"Well we have to think of something." Faris said. "This situation is getting more dangerous by the second. Pokemon turning against humans, who would have thought?"

"If I'm allowed to interrupt, no one asked my opinion on this yet."

Everyone turned to Aamira, who most of them had apparently not even noticed was there. They were shocked to see the condition she was in. Quill knew right away that she had lied about how long it would take for the poison to affect her. Her eyes were watering and she was shaking badly.

"Bisharp poisoned her. Our queen isn't going to last long if we don't find a cure." Faris said.

"There's no time for that. I'm sorry, Faris. I wanted you to think there was more time so you didn't make me a priority."

"You're the last descendant of Cyrus!" the first council member who had spoken before said. "You would let yourself die so easily? What happens after you die and there's no one to take your place?"

"I didn't think you were so concerned with your queen dying, considering you didn't even notice I was here until I spoke up. It doesn't matter. Ulrich's not an aura reader, but he's still from Cyrus's line. Have him take my place. For now we have something else to worry about."

"No one would approve of Ulrich. If not for Victini, they wouldn't have even recognized you. But you're right. Maybe having a pokemon for a monarch will help in this situation. Do we have an advantage that we don't know about?"

"Yea… sort of…" Aamira struggled to sit up straighter. "Humans can't attack their partners… it's physically impossible… but…" Lucario walked over to her and tried to help her up so her fighting wouldn't speed up the progression of the poison. "Humans can't attack their partners… can't hurt each others partners… but for pokemon…" it was obviously getting more difficult for her to breathe and talking was out of the question. "I'm sorry…" she managed to say before collapsing against the table.

Everyone looked around panic stricken. Their last queen was dying and their only hope of escaping was about to die with her. The pokemon outside kept ramming against the door. It sounded like the door itself was starting to splinter. It was only a matter of time before they managed to break in. The lock on the door failed first. Faris grabbed Aamira and retreated to the back of the room. Quill and Lucario stayed near the front, ready to defend the humans if they had to.

One of the council, the new scribe who had taken Darach's place, was the only one still paying attention to Aamira in the chaos. "Right when we need you the most… It's your job to protect the kingdom, isn't it!? You can't just die on us now!"

All of the council members turned their attention back to Aamira. She was still now. They stared for a second as the pokemon started to force their way through the blockade.

"It's my job to protect the kingdom?" Aamira jumped out of Faris's arms and landed uneasily on her feet. "Well I'm glad that you've figured that much out. Congratulations on being the newest council member and yet still the first to figure it out."

The pokemon, who had broken in by then, stopped their attack before they even got to Quill and Lucario.

"You're not dying?!" Faris asked.

"Would any of you prefer it if I was?" Aamira waited for a reply, but no one answered. "That's what I thought. Pokemon or not, I'm the last Cyrus who is also an Aura Reader and therefore the only one fit to rule the kingdom. Do you think I would have stayed if there were another option?" The silence continued and Aamira jumped up onto the table so she could have a slight elevation over the rest of the council. "Sharon, at least, was able to see how the roles work. The council is so important because you're all able to give your opinions on behalf of the people with fare criticism and no discrimination based on social class. That's it though. You share your opinions with me and I make the final decision, not any of you. And Faris… I know it's especially difficult for you, but it's my job to protect the kingdom, not yours. It's your job to protect me and give your assistance if I need help protecting the kingdom and only if I need it. Considering how unwilling people are to accept me as the queen, I was counting on you to show the council who was in charge."

"So you devised this plan to scare the council just to prove a point?" Faris asked.

"Would you have listened otherwise? Have you really listened to me at all since the coronation? What have I done these last six months? I found a tax loophole, that's it. Every time I try to bring up an issue, it's ignored. Every time I tell you something won't work, I'm ignored. Have I not been right nearly every time? Or have you not been paying attention?"

"If it makes it any better, we saw it as an issue too." Bisharp said. "Meaning all of us. Pokemon or not, she's still the queen, not just the kingdom's mascot."

It took them a moment to realize, but eventually they did notice that all of the pokemon who had been involved in the fake attacks were their partners, not any other pokemon from around the castle. Each of the pokemon there were the partners of the humans in the council.

"Well, we can't just ignore them can we?" the one who spoke held out his arm and a Noctowl flew over to him and landed on it. "I'm sorry, old friend. I suppose there are times that you care more about the kingdom than I do. Perhaps we were just too concerned with getting work done. It was a bit of a shock losing Xerxes after all and then to find out he never existed in the first place…"

Aamira jumped down from the table. "Now about the schedule, and, by the schedule I mean my schedule, the one that I created. I doubt that all of you were the only ones that felt overwhelmed by what happened with Xerxes, so I'd like to propose a festival. Does anyone remember what day it will be next week?"

"It's the anniversary of the death of king Tobias." One of them said.

"Exactly. What happened to celebrating death? He never had much of a send off, did he? I think we've waited long enough."

A few of the council members brought up some issues involving resources, time, security and so on. They only had a week to prepare if it was going to happen at all, so they started planning for it immediately.

Quill and Lucario, satisfied that it was safe to leave them alone, left the room together to stand guard outside since the lock on the door had been broken.

"Did you know what she was doing?" Quill asked.

"I didn't have a clue." Lucario admitted. "I feel like she was trying to teach me a lesson too. She more or less forced me to side with humans this time. Really proved a point."

"I kind of figured it out along the way." Quill said. "Bisharp said she got the poison from the lab, but Aamira's the only one who knows the code to the door, aside from me since I saw her type it in last night and Porygon never mentioned seeing Bisharp in there. Porygon is technically a wild pokemon, so I don't see him siding with an uprising based on the things that Bisharp said. Aside from that, we were just allowed to run to the rest of the council while the doors to the center of the castle only open from the outside. She could have easily trapped us in there. My flames wouldn't have been able to even melt an inch of that metal. She obviously was poisoned, but it must have been a weak one if it terminated itself after a few hours. They had this all planned."

They waited there for a couple of hours. Eventually the door opened and the council started to leave, all looking exhausted. Aamira came out last with a big yawn.

"Wow actually working it tiring. I want to show you guys something."

Without even waiting for a reply, she headed off down the hall. Maybe she was afraid they'd criticize her about the drastic measures she went to, not that Quill really had any place to. He had no idea how serious things had become while he had been gone for six months.

They headed out into the garden at the back of the castle. It was probably the most extravagant garden that they had ever seen.

"It's not bad, but it's not covered with solar flowers or anything like that." Lucario said.

"Oh that reminds me." Aamira said. "For the festival, do you think you can make some of those dragon flowers bloom?"

Lucario nodded. "I'll try."

Aamira led them past the garden into a cemetery. Each grave marker had a pokemon either carved into it or perched on top of it. They were the partners of the humans who had been buried there.

"The grave markers with the pokemon on top of them are the graves for the humans who died. It's supposed to show that even after death their partners are watching over them. That was one of the few traditions actually started by pokemon. The ones with pokemon carved into them are graves specifically for pokemon. It's rare, but if a pokemon did something really great in their life, they're given a grave here. See, over here is Unfezant. This graveyard is specifically for people who worked at the castle, who were supposed to be seen as family, so Darach wasn't buried here."

"What's that building back there?" Quill asked, indicating the large marble building at the edge of the cemetery.

"That's the family crypt." Aamira said. "Tobias and Anima are both there."

She walked to the door and placed her hand to it. It opened easily. They walked inside and were greeted by a large statue of a dragon carved out of the white stone. They walked down a set of stairs at the back of the building into the catacombs underneath. Anima's tomb was easy to find, since it had a statue of Victini sitting in a hollowed part of the wall right behind it. Right next to hers was a similar tomb with an Arcanine sitting in the hollow behind it. They assumed that one must have been Tobias's. They never thought about it, but they had never heard who his partner had been until then.

Aamira noticed Quill and Lucario staring at the statuette. "Arcanine's still alive I think. Living out in the forest somewhere. It's hard to believe though. Just a little over fifteen years ago these two were still alive. Tobias died first after being poisoned by Zoroark, then Anima died a few months later after I was born."

Aamira was silent, but it wasn't the sort of silence reserved for mourning. There was something strange about it.

"Is something wrong?" Quill asked.

Aamira shook her head. "No, I've just been coming down here a lot lately. It makes me think every time I do. I thought you two might find it interesting since this is the reason we're having a festival in a week. Apparently even Cyrus was buried here, although I doubt that. I've looked for him, but I've never seen the statue of the dragon anywhere. Then again, that tradition was started after his time so it could be unmarked. He lived before Mismagius though so he probably didn't even die in this world. Well, I'm getting hungry. Let's go get dinner."

The three of them headed back up to the castle, unaware that their enemy was hundreds of miles away even then, still plotting to take back control of the kingdom. Zoroark stared out of his cave at the snowy landscape. He hated it. How could someone like him hunt in a place that didn't provide even the slightest bit of camouflage? He was too tired to use his illusions. He had barely managed a single one since his battle with Aamira. He clutched his arm, which was badly burnt. Not a single fur was left on it.

"Hey, keep grabbing at it like that and the wounds will open again and it'll have to be burnt again." A human boy around Aamira's age said from the back of the cave.

Zoroark growled and turned to him. "Since when do you give me orders?"

"Since your kid turned you into a punching bag and I'm going to keep telling you what to do until that arm heals."

Zoroark growled and turned back to the cave entrance. He kept hearing something, like someone shouting, but they weren't close enough for him to be able to see who it was. "Not that I care. The witch lied, didn't she? Said that if I manipulated her DNA I would become her partner. The way she acted, I was sure that I really was. But she denied it. She attacked me. If she was really my partner, it should have been physically impossible for her to do something like that. So if it's not me, then who is it!?" he punched at the cave wall with his good arm, leaving a slight dent in it.

"You missed something, didn't you? I actually heard a little rumor in Dargan once before during my travels. Some pokemon are born to be the partners of a certain human, but others are capable of choosing their partners. Maybe there was a pokemon that chose her, thinking he could save her. So basically, you had your partner stolen from you."

"Stolen. And what can I do about it?" Zoroark gave a short laugh. "Unlike other Zoroark, I take pride in leaving my victims alive for as long as possible, making them suffer for as long as possible. As long as her partner doesn't die, it's of no consequence to me how badly they're hurt or tormented by their worst fears. They'll be a hollow shell by the time I'm done with them, still alive but better off dead and Aamira will see that. She'll know that she's the reason that it happened."

"Oh come on. Would you really have been able to rob her of her sanity, even if it was to get the thing you had been searching for since the day you hatched?" Zoroark didn't reply and his human companion smirked. "I knew it. You really do care about her, don't you?"

"Be quiet, I'm listening."

"Making excuses now, huh?" By then the voice had come within hearing distance of his weaker human ears. There really was something out there. He stood up and walked to the cave entrance. Down in the forest below their icy cave, there was a young child, probably from the Dargan city that was close to here. He was too far away for a human's ears to hear. "What's he saying."

"He's calling for someone named Silent. Looks like someone got unlucky with their human partner to be given a name like that. Actually I knew someone with a name like that once; a Sneasel who never spoke. It couldn't be the same one. That pokemon was a dangerous one to my plans, so I used the Celebi I captured to go back and take care of her before she could do anything to mess things up. What do you say?"

The human squinted down at the kid below them. "No, his partner's definitely a Sneasel. I know you said it's impossible, but these eyes don't lie. Wait. That's not it. He thinks his partner's a Sneasel, the same way Aamira thought you were hers for a while, but it's not. I can't tell what it is. I've never seen a pokemon like it."

Zoroark's eyes widened and he turned to the human. "What does it look like!?"

"It looks crippled, covered with ice, and the most horrible yellow eyes. The eyes are empty. I don't think it even has a soul."

Zoroark broke into a smile and started to laugh softly. "The first good news in months. I found you, little dragon child."


End file.
